Israel Adesanya believes his rematch against Robert Whittaker is another easy paycheck.
Adesanya is looking to defend his middleweight title for the fourth time as he rematches Whittaker in the main event of UFC 271 in a very intriguing matchup. The first time they fought, Adesanya scored a second-round TKO to become the new champ and he expects the rematch to be just as easy.
“My prediction is that I am going to f*ck Whittaker up, again,” Adesanya said to the Stake. “He can’t stand with me, so I know he will be forced to grapple. Last time he said ‘Kevin Gastelum has given the blueprint on how to beat Adesanya’ and now he’s saying ‘Jan has given the blueprint’… he needs to write his own blueprint. If he wants to copy someone else’s work, then by all means try, because it went so well last time for him when we fought.
“Whittaker may have learned from his mistakes from last time for maybe a round or so, but then trust me, he will revert back to those errors,” Israel Adesanya continued. “Once he feels what he felt last time, he won’t know where to turn. Also, he didn’t even grapple with me last time, he didn’t really feel me. You can ask any of my previous opponents, they will tell you. So once he feels me in a grapple, then he will get shook again. There has been no cutting corners this time. It’s made me even more motivated to do it again and do it more decisively if that’s even possible. That is my motivation for this fight, to get up and beat him again in an even more devastating fashion.”
Beating Whittaker with ease is certainly easier said than done as he has looked phenomenal since losing to Adesanya. He’s on a three-fight winning streak including two five-round main event decision wins, but the middleweight champ is confident we will hear And Still on February 12 in Houston.
Do you think Israel Adesanya will beat Robert Whittaker at UFC 271?