{"id":316812,"date":"2019-06-20T08:41:15","date_gmt":"2019-06-20T15:41:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=316812"},"modified":"2019-06-20T08:41:15","modified_gmt":"2019-06-20T15:41:15","slug":"israel-adesanya-questions-robert-whittakers-status-as-champion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/israel-adesanya-questions-robert-whittakers-status-as-champion\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel Adesanya questions Robert Whittaker&#8217;s status as champion"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Robert Whittaker captured the UFC interim middleweight title with a July, 2017 defeat of Yoel Romero. He was then promoted to undisputed champion when Georges St-Pierre vacated the undisputed title in late 2017. Current interim champ Israel Adesanya, who fights Robert Whittaker at UFC 243 in October, believes Whittaker&#8217;s unconventional road to middleweight gold casts doubt on his status as a legitimate champion.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Israel Adesanya Fires Back at Robert Whittaker: &quot;I Will Bury Him If I Have To&quot;\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/DjWsRDDapMo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p id=\"FL9cov\">\u201cHow the f*ck is he champion when he\u2019s the interim champion?,\u201d Adesanya said on Submission Radio (transcript via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmafighting.com\/2019\/6\/20\/18691917\/israel-adesanya-questions-if-robert-whittaker-will-even-make-it-to-their-title-unification-bout\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">MMA Fighting<\/a>). \u201cHow did he win the interim belt off Romero and he got the unified belt? Who did he beat? Has he defended his belt? How? He was the interim champ. He is the interim champ. He never actually won the real belt. He never actually won the real belt. He was the interim champ and still is the interim champ. And he hasn\u2019t really done much work. I\u2019ve has six fights in one year, what has he done the last three years? So, if they want to keep throwing that interim sh*t around \u2013 cause I checked my belt, it don\u2019t say no interim. And my belt\u2019s on that new flex.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"4Iei1m\">Israel Adesanya also questioned whether Robert Whittaker will show up to their newly scheduled UFC 243 title fight, reminding listeners that the undisputed champ has an unfortunate track record of withdrawing from fights.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<p id=\"idJrYr\">\u201cI\u2019m going to put a wager out there and see if he makes it to the fight,\u201d Adesanya said. \u201cCause for me, I\u2019m keeping that same energy with the way I train. If he is\u2026 is he gonna make it to the fight? So, I\u2019m prepared for him, but I don\u2019t know if he\u2019s gonna make it to the fight. That\u2019s just history.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"hR4zie\">\u201cThey should put a wager on \u2018will Robert make it to this fight? Will he pull out of this fight?\u2019 and put odds on that based on all his other fights. That should be a new wager that gets added to the odds.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>What do you think of these comments from Israel Adesanya?<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><i>This article first appeared on\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>BJPENN.COM<\/i><\/span><\/a><i>\u00a0on 6\/20\/2019. <\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Robert Whittaker captured the UFC interim middleweight title with a July, 2017 defeat of Yoel Romero. He was then promoted to undisputed champion when Georges St-Pierre vacated the undisputed title in late 2017. Current interim champ Israel Adesanya, who fights Robert Whittaker at UFC 243 in October, believes Whittaker&#8217;s unconventional road to middleweight gold casts [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54430,"featured_media":281515,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[39449,10582,39610],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.7 (Yoast SEO v19.14) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Israel Adesanya questions Robert Whittaker&#039;s status as champion | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"UFC interim middleweight champion Israel Adesanya takes a shot at the undisputed champion Robert Whittaker, who he&#039;ll fight at UFC 243.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/israel-adesanya-questions-robert-whittakers-status-as-champion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Israel Adesanya questions Robert Whittaker&#039;s status as champion | BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"UFC interim middleweight champion Israel Adesanya takes a shot at the undisputed champion Robert Whittaker, who he&#039;ll fight at UFC 243.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/israel-adesanya-questions-robert-whittakers-status-as-champion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"| BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-06-20T15:41:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/Israel-Adesanya-2.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"696\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"399\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tom Taylor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tom Taylor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/israel-adesanya-questions-robert-whittakers-status-as-champion\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/israel-adesanya-questions-robert-whittakers-status-as-champion\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Tom Taylor\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/e1a3f1e5a045aeaf5b59aa1549a06a87\"},\"headline\":\"Israel Adesanya questions Robert Whittaker&#8217;s status as champion\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-06-20T15:41:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-06-20T15:41:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/israel-adesanya-questions-robert-whittakers-status-as-champion\/\"},\"wordCount\":371,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Israel Adesanya\",\"Robert Whittaker\",\"UFC\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/israel-adesanya-questions-robert-whittakers-status-as-champion\/#respond\"]}],\"copyrightYear\":\"2019\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/israel-adesanya-questions-robert-whittakers-status-as-champion\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/israel-adesanya-questions-robert-whittakers-status-as-champion\/\",\"name\":\"Israel Adesanya questions Robert Whittaker's status as champion | BJPenn.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-06-20T15:41:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-06-20T15:41:15+00:00\",\"description\":\"UFC interim middleweight champion Israel Adesanya takes a shot at the undisputed champion Robert Whittaker, who he'll fight at UFC 243.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/israel-adesanya-questions-robert-whittakers-status-as-champion\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/israel-adesanya-questions-robert-whittakers-status-as-champion\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/israel-adesanya-questions-robert-whittakers-status-as-champion\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"MMA News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"UFC\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Israel Adesanya questions Robert Whittaker&#8217;s status as champion\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"description\":\"MMA &amp; UFC News, Results &amp; Fight Videos\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png\",\"width\":600,\"height\":148,\"caption\":\"| BJPenn.com\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/instagram.com\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/bjpenndotcom\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/0fficialbjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bjpenndotcom\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/e1a3f1e5a045aeaf5b59aa1549a06a87\",\"name\":\"Tom Taylor\",\"description\":\"Tom Taylor is a globetrotting writer currently based in Ottawa, Canada. He is a staff writer for BJPenn.com, and also covers mixed martial arts for Fightland and Vice Sports. Follow him on Twitter @TomTayMMA.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/author\/tom-taylor\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Israel Adesanya questions Robert Whittaker's status as champion | BJPenn.com","description":"UFC interim middleweight champion Israel Adesanya takes a shot at the undisputed champion Robert Whittaker, who he'll fight at UFC 243.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/israel-adesanya-questions-robert-whittakers-status-as-champion\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Israel Adesanya questions Robert Whittaker's status as champion | BJPenn.com","og_description":"UFC interim middleweight champion Israel Adesanya takes a shot at the undisputed champion Robert Whittaker, who he'll fight at UFC 243.","og_url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/israel-adesanya-questions-robert-whittakers-status-as-champion\/","og_site_name":"| BJPenn.com","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn","article_published_time":"2019-06-20T15:41:15+00:00","og_image":[{"width":696,"height":399,"url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/Israel-Adesanya-2.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Tom Taylor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@bjpenndotcom","twitter_site":"@bjpenndotcom","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Tom Taylor","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/israel-adesanya-questions-robert-whittakers-status-as-champion\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/israel-adesanya-questions-robert-whittakers-status-as-champion\/"},"author":{"name":"Tom Taylor","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/e1a3f1e5a045aeaf5b59aa1549a06a87"},"headline":"Israel Adesanya questions Robert Whittaker&#8217;s status as champion","datePublished":"2019-06-20T15:41:15+00:00","dateModified":"2019-06-20T15:41:15+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/israel-adesanya-questions-robert-whittakers-status-as-champion\/"},"wordCount":371,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Israel Adesanya","Robert Whittaker","UFC"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/israel-adesanya-questions-robert-whittakers-status-as-champion\/#respond"]}],"copyrightYear":"2019","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/israel-adesanya-questions-robert-whittakers-status-as-champion\/","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/israel-adesanya-questions-robert-whittakers-status-as-champion\/","name":"Israel Adesanya questions Robert Whittaker's status as champion | BJPenn.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-06-20T15:41:15+00:00","dateModified":"2019-06-20T15:41:15+00:00","description":"UFC interim middleweight champion Israel Adesanya takes a shot at the undisputed champion Robert Whittaker, who he'll fight at UFC 243.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/israel-adesanya-questions-robert-whittakers-status-as-champion\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/israel-adesanya-questions-robert-whittakers-status-as-champion\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/israel-adesanya-questions-robert-whittakers-status-as-champion\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"MMA News","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"UFC","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Israel Adesanya questions Robert Whittaker&#8217;s status as champion"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/","name":"| BJPenn.com","description":"MMA &amp; UFC News, Results &amp; Fight Videos","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization","name":"| BJPenn.com","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png","contentUrl":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png","width":600,"height":148,"caption":"| BJPenn.com"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/instagram.com\/bjpenn","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bjpenn","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/bjpenndotcom\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/0fficialbjpenn","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn","https:\/\/twitter.com\/bjpenndotcom"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/e1a3f1e5a045aeaf5b59aa1549a06a87","name":"Tom Taylor","description":"Tom Taylor is a globetrotting writer currently based in Ottawa, Canada. He is a staff writer for BJPenn.com, and also covers mixed martial arts for Fightland and Vice Sports. Follow him on Twitter @TomTayMMA.","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/author\/tom-taylor\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316812"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54430"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=316812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=316812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}