By Robert Whittaker
It's a strange feeling, but this is the first time in a long time that I've actually felt like a I had a break from work - a holiday if you can call it that. Time away, time to reflect and time to welcome my fourth child into the world. When you've got back-to-back fight camps, you can often become overwhelmed and lose track of things, but during this time off I've felt present during it all - it was so refreshing and I'm so glad I got the chance to do it. It means a lot to my family (just ask my wife) but it also had great benefits for me too. It revitalises the soul and I'm truly ready for a big 2021. Bring it on.
When I'm not training or fighting, people who follow me probably have a pretty good idea of where my passion lies outside of the octagon. So with that being said, I'm very excited to be partnering with PlayStation for the upcoming PS5 show. It gave me a chance to play one of my favourite games of all-time which is Demon's Souls and it was an incredible experience all round.
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It's no secret that I'm a passionate gamer, but even I noticed that the console itself makes gaming so much easier - it's crisp, smooth, fast. It's honestly unreal. When you're locked into a session, the gameplay just feels so fluent which makes the overall experience more enjoyable as a result. Load times? Faster. Response times? Rapid. And the ultra-responsive controller alone is like something I've never experienced.
Everything from the character movements and portraits to their clothing is just executed to perfection - I mean, anyone who has played the Souls games knows just how important that is. To put it simply, it has well and truly taken one of my favourite genres and games to the next level - something I didn't think was actually possible.
My break from competing was great, I certainly enjoyed all of those special moments with my family - but another one of those moments was definitely getting to sink my teeth into the new PS5. I've already clocked over 100 hours on the game, so that speaks volumes of how much I'm absolutely loving it.
For me, gaming takes the edge off. And I know it has the same affect for a lot of other people too. Whether you're a UFC fighter, a high school student or even the CEO of a huge company, we've all got our own stresses in life and gaming can act as a good escape. In my sport, there's always pressures. This can clutter upstairs a lot and you can start to feel heavy in the head, so to be able to remove myself and jump into a world on the PS5 where none of that matters is really refreshing and something that I think has helped me massively throughout my mixed martial arts career. Especially with something like Demon's Souls, you can truly immerse yourself into a fantasy realm. Even your character is getting stronger without copping any of the pain we're used to in real life - and for a fighter, that's the dream.
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So for anyone looking to escape day-to-day pressures, whatever they may be, I can't recommend it enough. If you follow my pre-fight preparations through the UFC Embedded YouTube series or even my social media channels, you'll quickly realise that my console is a key element of my travels. I take it everywhere with me and I don't know how I'd survive without it.
Now that we've been able to establish some routine after introducing a new member to the family, the next focus is to get back to work. I've been organising my training times with the hope of taking on a fight sometime in April. I mean, everyone knew which opponent I wanted next, right? I did, my coaches did and the fans certainly did. I think even the bloke himself knew I had my eye on him - but it wasn't meant to be and he's fighting some other bloke now. I needed that time over Christmas for my family and my newborn and I was granted that by the UFC.
So you know what, it is what it is - I'm not the type of person to sit and worry about things that are outside of my control. Things like this have happened before, but I always look at the silver lining. I'm in this game because I love fighting - words can't describe how much I love it. And I'm in a fortunate enough position that I get to do what I love for a living - not many people are granted that luxury. So I'm just thankful.
There's various rumours about who I'm going to be fighting next. I'm not confirming or denying anything and people can connect the dots if they want, but all you need to know is that I want to fight. And not just once either. Ideally, my goals is to step into the octagon three times this year. Israel Adesanya is busy until mid-2021, so the options are either wait on the sidelines until he's ready (f*** no) or get in there and fight someone else (f*** yeah). Let me just reiterate this clearly: I'm not waiting for anyone. No one. I love my job too much to do that. I've never run away from fights in the past so whoever the UFC puts in front of come game time then you can guarantee I'll be ready to take their head clean off when the octagon doors slam shut. I'll carve my way to the top, and I'll carve through whoever to get there too. The middleweight division is there for the taking and I'm well aware of that.
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People have asked me before whether I'd move up to the light heavyweight division. Could I do it? Yes. Would I do it right now? That's another question entirely. It's not something that I necessarily feel like I need to do right now in my career. That being said, I'd never rule it out completely.
Featured Image Credit: PlayStation AustraliaTopics: GAMING, Robert Whittaker, UFC News, MMA News, PlayStation, UFC, Australia, MMA,