Saturday night will mark the return of Andrew Whitney to the Titan FC cage as he will be meeting William Joplin in a bantamweight bout.
Whitney (11-3) has gone 3-1 since his last fight in Titan FC took place and he is coming off a TKO win at Blackout Fighting Championship 28 in May against Ryan Hayes.
When people think about MMA or any other sport, we immediately think about the physical side of the sport. However, the mental side of the sport is likely more important. If you head is not in the right place, you will likely not perform to the best of your abilities. This has happened to Whitney recently and admitted to The MMA Report that he recently got all of the negativity out of his life.
“I have had a lot of negativity in my life for the past couple of years,” Whitney said. “I am back in a happy place and my head is clear. This sport is probably 85 percent mental. If you have ever seen Georges St-Pierre’s losses, he said he had to much going on in his life at that time. I think I surrounded myself with maybe the wrong type of people. I do not really know what it was. It was just a lot of negativity in my life that I have out and I am in a good place. You guys can expect the best Andrew you have seen in your life.”
In terms of the physical side of this game, Whitney credits his striking coach for taking his game to another level.
“For one, my striking coach. His name is Troy,” he said. “I do not call him my ace in my back pocket, he is my secret weapon now. I have worked with a lot of high level striking coaches and I have never worked with anybody as good as this guy. He has tricks for days and I am constantly growing, learning, and getting better. I am happy and ready to put this positive vibes in this cage and get after it.”
On Saturday at Titan FC 34, he will be meeting a fighter that has a record of 12-10. That record is very misleading as Joplin got off to a rough start in his career. After starting his career 2-8, Joplin is 10-2 in his last twelve fights and enters this fight with two straight wins by submission. Seven of Joplin’s career wins have come by submission and is that what makes him difficult as an opponent?
“A fight is a fight at the end of the day,” Whitney explained. “I do not know if I would say difficult. He is going to be game. William Joplin comes to fight. He is going to stay in your face for fifteen minutes and that is how the fight is going to go. If you can not handle pressure like that — then yeah, it’s going to be a difficult fight.”
Anytime a fighter talks to the media, they are not going to give away their game plan for a fight. However, Whitney did state that a key for him on Saturday will be to use his athleticism.
“Be athletic and be the Andrew that I can be because William Joplin is kind of flat footed and will stand right in front of you, and like to bang a lot. Just pretty much use my athleticism and use explosive power to win the fight.”