Robert Whittaker thinks he’s just getting into his prime ahead of his UFC Paris co-main event fight against Marvin Vettori.

Although Whittaker is a former UFC champion and has been in the promotion since 2012, he is just 31-years-old so he thinks he has a lot more to give. With that, he believes his best performances are still ahead of him.

“The best years are coming up, I feel like I’m just coming into my prime and my peak condition,” Whittaker said to ESPN. “I think I have the best fights ahead of me. The motivation for the work is my family, they’re the biggest driver, they’re the reason why I sweat and bleed as much as I do. I’m fighting for something bigger than myself.”

Not only does Robert Whittaker think he is just hitting his prime, he also believes he is improving daily. He knows with a win over Vettori on Saturday he could get another crack at the belt.

Whittaker is coming off a decision loss to Israel Adesanya in a close fight, and one that the Aussie thought he won. With that, he believes a trilogy with Adesanya goes much differently, especially with him thinking he is only getting better.

“The fight with Izzy was a hard-fought fight. I thought I did a lot of things right on the night,” Whittaker said. “But I didn’t get the nod that night and it is what it is, you can’t cry on it, you can only get back to the gym, get back to work and focus on the next one. But I did a lot of things right, I landed some successful takedowns and I threatened the takedowns a lot, my jab was on point, my counter striking was on point; defensively I think I did a good job of nullifying his main attributes. But it is what it is… the next fight between us, I think there’ll be a lot of different things I can take advantage of, and then move differently [as well].”

Do you agree with Robert Whittaker that he is just hitting his prime?