{"id":365793,"date":"2020-10-26T19:32:00","date_gmt":"2020-10-27T02:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=365793"},"modified":"2020-10-26T19:32:00","modified_gmt":"2020-10-27T02:32:00","slug":"robert-whittaker-calls-rematch-with-israel-adesanya-a-hard-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/robert-whittaker-calls-rematch-with-israel-adesanya-a-hard-fight\/","title":{"rendered":"Robert Whittaker calls rematch with Israel Adesanya &#8220;a hard fight&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Top contender Robert Whittaker called a potential rematch against UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya &#8220;a hard fight.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>After defeating Jared Cannonier in the co-main event of UFC 254, <a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/dana-white-shares-his-take-on-robert-whittakers-win-at-ufc-254-and-what-could-be-next-for-the-former-champ\/\">UFC president Dana White said that Whittaker would likely be the next opponent for Adesanya<\/a>. Of course, these two previously met at UFC 243 in October 2019. Whittaker was the champion heading into that fight but he lost his belt to Adesanya by knockout. Since then, Whittaker has won two straight fights against Cannonier and Darren Till to jump back into title contention, while Adesanya defended his belt against Yoel Romero and Paulo Costa.<\/p>\n<p>With Whittaker now next in line to get another crack at the belt, &#8220;The Reaper&#8221; spoke to the media following UFC 254 and gave his thoughts on a rematch with Adesanya.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s a tough fight, man. I\u2019m (not) stoked to fight him. He\u2019s a hard fight. He\u2019s so good and he only looked better in his last fight. And the fact he beat me once already,&#8221; Whittaker said (via <a href=\"https:\/\/mmajunkie.usatoday.com\/2020\/10\/robert-whittaker-says-israel-adesanya-rematch-isnt-urgent-but-will-likely-happen\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">MMAjunkie.com<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;But I feel like I\u2019ve got a couple of tricks I can roll out. I feel like I can play it differently this time. Honestly, I know he\u2019s trying to do everything else, and good on him to do that. I\u2019m not thinking about him. Maybe me and him shouldn\u2019t think about it just for a little bit. He can go up to light heavy(weight) or heavyweight. Whatever he wants to do, it doesn\u2019t bother me. My plans are Christmas, my baby, and then, hopefully, our timelines line up then.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As Whittaker alluded to, Adesanya could choose to pursue superfights up a weight class against fighters such as Jon Jones, Jan Blachowicz, or even Stipe Miocic. But if he does fight at 185lbs on his next fight, the odds are on him fighting Whittaker again. There are other fighters like Jack Hermansson in the mix, but Whittaker is now the clear favorite.<\/p>\n<p>Do you think Robert Whittaker has a chance to beat Israel Adesanya in the rematch?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Top contender Robert Whittaker called a potential rematch against UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya &#8220;a hard fight.&#8221; After defeating Jared Cannonier in the co-main event of UFC 254, UFC president Dana White said that Whittaker would likely be the next opponent for Adesanya. Of course, these two previously met at UFC 243 in October 2019. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54474,"featured_media":322566,"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>Robert Whittaker calls rematch with Israel Adesanya &quot;a hard fight&quot; | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Top contender Robert Whittaker called a potential rematch against UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya &quot;a hard fight.&quot;\" \/>\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\/robert-whittaker-calls-rematch-with-israel-adesanya-a-hard-fight\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" 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