Israel Adesanya has pledged to ‘f*** up’ Robert Whittaker again in their UFC 271 rematch, claiming that his rival’s ego will draw him into another futile grappling match.
Adesanya’s highly-anticipated rematch with the ‘Reaper’ takes place in Houston, Texas and tops a card featuring hometown favourite Derrick Lewis in the co-main event against Tai Tuivasa.
UFC middleweight champ Adesanya, 32, is a New Zealand-based Nigerian, who has only lost once in 22 UFC bouts. Kiwi Whittaker, 31, is also based in Auckland so the rivalry with Adesanya must be even more intense as they’re likely to bump into each other in their home town on a regular basis. His record is 24-5.
The Antipodean rivalry takes centre stage again on Saturday, with Whittaker gunning for revenge having been dethroned by ‘The Stylebender’ in 2019.
Adesanya believes Whittaker will have learned from his mistakes in the first fight but eventually will make an error and revert to type, no matter how much he has improved.
Adesanya said: “My prediction is that I am going to f*** Whittaker up, again. He can’t stand with me, so I know he will be forced to grapple. Whittaker may have learnt from his mistakes from last time for maybe a round or so, but then trust me, he will revert back to those errors. Once he feels what he felt last time, he won’t know where to turn.”
Comments (0)
We appreciate your feedback. You can comment here with your pseudonym or real name. You can leave a comment with or without entering an email address. All comments will be reviewed before they are published.