Israel Adesanya believes he can beat Whittaker again

UFC 271, with a title fight catered by Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker, is coming up. On February 13, we’ll find out if reigning middleweight champion Adesanya will defend his belt against the tenacious New Zealander.

The two have already clashed in a title fight at UFC 243 in October 2019, when the champion awarded his challenger a KO in the second round.

Since then, however, Whittaker has developed a lot as a fighter. He’s won three fights in a row after dominant performances against fighters like Darren Till, Jared Cannonier and Kelvin Gastelum. That’s also why he’s earned a new title shot.

How does Adesanya see his challenger?

Champion Adesanya sees the gritty Whittaker as easy pickings. “To be honest, I have seen some improvement in him. I will definitely keep an eye on him. But the improvement is not drastic enough to make you think he will beat me. I also didn’t roll around and grew at an even faster pace, which you’ll see soon enough,” he said in an interview with Stake.

The challenger hinted that wrestling could pay for the champion, as we saw in his fight with Błachowicz. “He’s no match for me in terms of stance, so I know he’s going to want to take the fight to the ground. Just let him give it a shot. I’m confident that I’ll sweep him even earlier than before,” the still undefeated Adesanya is confident in his middleweight title.

Will he move up to welterweight?

Whether he will move up in weight class again, where he could theoretically meet Jiri Prochazka, is not yet decided. He is currently concentrating on his defence against Whittaker and for now he wants to continue at middleweight.

But he is not defending a move up. However, he must have an inner feeling that he has already destroyed all his challengers and opponents.

Maybe in the future we will see a fight with the Moravian samurai. But for now, he has to accomplish the immediate task of defending his middleweight championship belt.

Source