At UFC 213, UFC middleweight Yoel Romero will look to claim UFC interim middleweight gold as he steps into the Octagon with streaking contender Robert Whittaker in a matchup which will see one man not only secure the interim title, but also a fight with Michael Bisping for the undisputed belt.

Ahead of the fight, Romero knows that being the fourteen year elder of Whittaker certainly puts him at a disadvantage – on paper. He spoke to MMAJunkie to discuss the fight, and where he feels he holds the advantage over his much younger opponent:

“The first thing I feel I am a man who has been blessed by God,” Romero said. “Second, the discipline that I follow, the rigorous training that I follow myself. The third point is that I’m smart, I’m intelligent. When I pick my fights I’m going to do my training.”

“All opponents are dangerous,” Romero said. “All opponents have two arms and they have great matter to be able to think, and they have talent. The other thing is that I think you should always be careful when you’re fighting and be respectful of your opponent. He’s a young fighter, he’s hungry. These things always make your opponent dangerous.”

Whittaker of course is coming off a 2nd round TKO win over Jacare Souza, which saw him extend his win streak to seven after picking up several high-profile wins, including wins over Uriah Hall, and Derek Brunson.

Romero on the other hand has been perfect since signing with the UFC, scoring 6 KO/TKO wins throughout the course of his 8 fight win streak. Most recently, Romero picked up a KO win over Chris Weidman at UFC 205 to secure his place as the middleweight #1 contender.

Tune in to UFC 213 on July 8th to see who leaves with the interim middleweight title.

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 6/30/2017.