"He's beating people kind of at their own games" - Anthony Smith explains why Robert Whittaker faces "uphill battle" against Marvin Vettori at UFC Paris

UFC middleweight contenders Robert Whittaker and Marvin Vettori will face off at UFC Fight Night: Gane vs. Tuivasa this weekend. Anthony Smith believes Marvin Vettori will pose a threat to Whittaker in the upcoming fight.

Giving props to him for his recent win against Costa, Smith feels that 'The Italian Dream' is kind of beating people at their own games.

Explaining how Vettori would be a tough fight for Whittaker in their upcoming bout, the light-heavyweight had this to say:

"He's f****ing good. He's [Marvin Vetttori] really good. I mean, he shut down Costa, he's beating everybody else... and he's beating people kind of at their own games. Even Jack Hermansson fight... like out grapple Jack Hermansson, which I thought was phenomenal and hard to do. I mean that's the same guy that out grapple Jacaré [Ronald Souza]."

Despite Whittaker's fighting record against other division contenders, 'Lionheart' believes 'The Reaper' may not have the same case against Vettori:

"I think a lot of people are kind of just looking over Vettori like, oh okay, well, Whittaker is always gonna win against anybody in the division if it's not Israel Adesanya... and I don't think it's that simple this weekend. I think Robert Whittaker got a little uphill battle to be fair."

Check out Anthony Smith's comments in the video below:

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Robert Whittaker talks about his opponent ahead of fight at UFC Paris

In a recent interview with Submission Radio, Robert Whittaker discussed his upcoming match against Marvin Vettori at UFC Paris. 'The Reaper' appreciated Vettori's grit and tenacity but promised to "finish him" during their fight on September 3.

Laying out his strategy for fighting 'The Italian Dream', the former middleweight champ said:

"I want to hit him as hard as I can. I've been working on hitting hard. I wanna test his mettle, you know, I understand the top fighter he is. The grit, the tenacity he has and the type of fight that he wants, but yeah, I want to get in, I've got 15 minutes to put on a show, [to] put on a barn burner, and that's exactly what I want to do..."

He added:

"It would be amazing to be the first one to finish him. These guys at the top level are very hard to finish, they're there for a reason, everyone's tough."

Check out Robert Whittaker's full interview with Submission Radio below: