Robert Whittaker excited to go out and “hurt” Paulo Costa at UFC 298: “I’m coming for violence”

Robert Whittaker is glad he and Paulo Costa will finally fight.

Whittaker and Costa have been scheduled to fight one another twice previously, including last February, but both times the Brazilian was the reason for the proposed contest falling apart. Despite that, when Whittaker was offered to face Costa at UFC 298 in Anaheim, he jumped at the chance to do so.

“Zero, zero hesitancy. I was looking for a fight, I wanted to fight sooner even, I was looking at the January or late December timeframe. They gave me Costa and I jumped at the bit. I’m excited for this fight, we have been meaning to cross paths for a while now. He’s a high-caliber guy, I like high-caliber fights so it made sense for both of us,” Whittaker said on Just Scrap Radio on BJPENN.com.

Although the fight is scheduled, Robert Whittaker is well aware of Paulo Costa’s antics on fight week. Costa has changed a fight to light heavyweight, but the former middleweight champ doesn’t think that will be an issue here.

“I do feel he takes the piss a little bit, but, I don’t know. It works for him, he’s doing his thing. All I know is I trained how I always have and come Feb. 17, I’m coming for violence and I hope he is, too,” Whittaker said.

Ultimately, Robert Whittaker says he’s entering this fight with a chip on his shoulder after his loss to Dricus Du Plessis last July.

With that, Whittaker says he’s looking to make a statement on Saturday at UFC 298 and says the goal is to hurt and break Paulo Costa.

“Mate, I’m going to get in there and gonna take violence to him, the objective is to hurt him, to break him, and that is the concept I have done the entire camp with. That is the objective that is in mind when I step in there,” Whittaker said.

Should Whittaker get his hand raised at UFC 298, he isn’t sure what would be next for him. However, ‘The Reaper’ says the only goal he has is to reclaim his middleweight belt and end his career on top.

“The world is my oyster,” Whittaker said. “My calendar doesn’t go much further than the fight date, I have full focus and energy to beat him and once he has been beaten, I will assess myself and we will look at all the options… It is day-by-day but my objective in my career is I want to get the belt back and wrap things up atop the food chain.”