It was June 2016 and Whittaker was still the man who might be UFC middleweight champion. The flood saw just a few die-hards, a few oblivious North Gong regulars and an Illawarra Mercury reporter who falls somewhat in both categories huddle around the screens inside to watch Michael Bisping dethrone then middleweight champion Luke Rockhold in a massive upset at UFC 199.

"I remember the rain was absolutely pelting down and no one came," Whittaker recalls with a laugh.

Just over a year later it was standing room only in that same beer garden as fans packed in to watch him defeat Cuban Olympian Yoel Romero on the big screen - the first of what would be two epic wars for the UFC middleweight strap.

He won both, making good on what he told The Mercury on that rainy day in June three years ago.

"It's inevitable," he said of his title push. "The belt will come."

That's why it's impossible for that same reporter to doubt him when he tells you that the belt will be his again, despite surrendering it to Israel Adesanya via TKO at UFC 243 three weeks ago.

"Obviously I'm very disappointed and I think being disappointed is very natural with what's happened," Whittaker said.

"I'm also looking at it for what it is. There were a lot of things on my shoulders at the time of the fight.

"There was so much time between then and my last fight, I've had to pull out twice [due to injury] before on huge fights in my home country; cards built around me.

"I'm being kind to myself and understanding the pressure on me was huge. As much as I didn't want to acknowledge it [beforehand] it was there.

"I got caught. It is what it is, sometimes you lose, sometimes you get knocked down, but I got there once and I know what I need to do to get there again."

He speaks from experience. The loss to Adesanya ended a five-year nine-fight win streak. Prior to that he was at a crossroad in more than just his fight career.

After winning The Ultimate Fighter reality series The Smashes, he suffered consecutive losses to journeyman Court McGee and now two-time welterweight contender Stephen Thompson.

It was what can be the death knell for UFC careers - back to back defeats - and it looked like he might become one of those guys who feature regularly on mid-card bouts in his home country...and little else.

It was period in which he was forced to come to grips with the depression and doubts that had plagued him through a tough childhood, and continued as he found success climbing the ranks - a battle he opened up about in the lead-up to the Adesanya bout.

"I've always had a depressive nature," he said.

"It's something I developed as a child and as a coping mechanism I'd just become reclusive and play video games or anime or whatever else to get through.

"I could never identify it for the longest time, even once I started MMA. The belief is that 'these guys are the baddest men on the planet'. It didn't come naturally for me to say 'hold on, I suffer from a mental illness', especially with the stigma mental illness has.

"We [fighters] are guys, especially the upper echelon where I'm sitting, we have extreme highs but that also makes us prone to extreme lows. It's the nature of the beast and I think you have to understand all the things that come with that.

"Once I could identify it, I realised it's fine and I felt the need to tell people. I was the world champ and I was on top of the world but I get hit by this like everyone else. It also isn't the end of the world."

He certainly wasn't planning on being a former world champion when he embarks on a nation-wide speaking tour - that will come to the WIN Entertainment Centre on December 5 - but if there's a silver lining to the defeat, it only makes his message more poignant.

"The biggest draw for this speaking tour is the fact that I have a story to tell," Whittaker says.

"I have a story of plenty of hurdles and obstacles and hardships. It started from when I was a kid to this very day, I've just lost the title. Look at everything I've done in between. There's a story there and a message there that I want people to hear.

"Certain things affect everyone. Certain mental illnesses affect everybody, family hardships affect everyone and it doesn't matter if you're the world champ or not it can hit you hard - but you can be world champ with it.

"I want people to be able to look at me and relate their own story because I'm about to take that journey with them. Here I am again, I've just lost the title, had a loss, but it's not the be all end all.

"A loss is a loss, I'm disappointed as I think anyone would be, but I'm going to utilise that to make me better next time. It's exactly what I did six or so years ago, it's what I'm going to do now."