Israel Adesanya claims that he knew Robert Whittaker before the duels in the Octagon.
Whittaker has blamed “ego” for his knockout loss to Adesanya almost three years ago. Although he has vowed to fight a new fighter in the future, the champion sees the same outcome.
“It was his ego last time, but I called it from the fight,” Adesanya said in an interview with his sponsor Stake before his UFC 271 rematch with ex-champ Whittaker. He isn’t being himself, which I said to him at the time.
“People kept saying what a good guy he is, but trust me he’s not. It’s hard to see the truth behind his actions. And now he’s admitted it was his ego that got the best of him – well I told you so, he should have listened to me!
” What else could he possibly say? He said after the fight that it was the best he’s ever felt, well I do not forget that. He’ll need to get better and I will defeat him again .”
Whittaker is back in title contention after beating top rivals Jared Cannonier, Darren Till and Kelvin Gastelum. Adesanya, meanwhile, successfully returned to the middleweight division with a second win over Marvin Vettori after falling short for the light heavyweight title then held by Jan Blachowicz.
Oddsmakers consider Adesanya to be a strong favorite for the belt to remain his after his return to form.
” My prediction is that I will f*ck Whittaker, again,” Adesanya stated. “He can’t stand with me, so I know he will be forced to grapple. He said last time that Kevin Gastelum had given him the blueprint for beating Adesanya. Now he says Jan has given him the blueprint ‘…. and he has to create 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 might have learned from the mistakes he made last time, but once he does, I guarantee he’ll go back to his previous errors. Once he feels what he felt last time, he won’t know where to turn. He didn’t grapple with me, and he wasn’t feeling me. Ask any of my past opponents and they’ll tell you. Once he has felt me in a gripe, he will shake again .”
Adesanya has proven that with a win in his recent match, he is still the powerful force he believes he can be. Adesanya’s new objective is to maintain his dominance at 185 before he considers other challenges.
“”When I beat Whittaker, I honestly don’t have any immediate plan on what to do next,” he said. “I am just going to keep doing what I am doing at 185, line them up and knock them down. And once I’ve lapped the division on my terms, then I might step up and do another side mission at a different weight.”
One matchup that’s been spotlighted early is a meeting with Alex Pereira, who knocked out Adesanya in kickboxing. Pereira will be the contender, so Pereira is available to meet up with Adesanya.
“He has had only one fight so far, so fighting Alex Pereira is a little premature.” he stated. “Let’s see how he does in other fights, but I do look forward to that arc in my story.”
