Robert Whittaker recently offered his thoughts on his upcoming fight against Reinier de Ridder at UFC Abu Dhabi. Whittaker expressed his admiration for de Ridder and is optimistic about his chances against the former ONE Championship two-division champion.Whittaker is set to make his octagon return in the main event of UFC Abu Dhabi on Saturday in a middleweight bout against de Ridder. During the Fight Night event's media day, the Australian shared his opinion on de Ridder's success outside of the UFC, saying:''[De Ridder's] a well accomplished fighter. He's been around the track many times, fought for titles, had titles, he's got a lot of divisions. It's going to be a hard fight. He's a veteran by himself. And I look forward to the test that comes up.''Whittaker then expressed confidence in his striking prowess:''He hasn't fought anyone like me. Landing my mitts and my getting my hands on him, that's the plan. I'm fast. My striking I think is better than his. So I've got to find the holes, the opening and close them up...He's going to try to take me down straight away I envision. He's got good striking, good stand up but he understands where my strengths are, he understands where his strengths may lie and I think he'll want to go to the ground to utilize that."Check out Robert Whittaker's comments below:In his last MMA appearance at UFC 308, Whittaker suffered a brutal opening round submission loss to Khamzat Chimaev, who broke the former middleweight champion's jaw with his tight hold.Meanwhile, de Ridder is coming off an impressive second-round knockout victory over Bo Nickal in the co-main event of UFC Iowa earlier this year. The Dutch is yet to suffer defeat inside the octagon.Robert Whittaker discusses Dricus du Plessis' title defense against Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 319Robert Whittaker, who has faced both Dricus du Plessis and Khamzat Chimaev in the past, gave his take on their middleweight title matchup at UFC 319 on Aug. 16 at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois.In the aforementioned media day, Whittaker said:''It's tricky. I think the favorite would have to be Dricus [du Plessis]. The The only things I can say with any sort of certainty is that Chimaev will get Dricus to the mat. But if Chimaev doesn't finish Dricus there, I find it hard for him to win. I think the longer the fight goes, Dricus is more favorable.''Check out Robert Whittaker's comments below (7:25):