It wasn’t perfect, but Israel Adesanya can’t complain too much about his performance at UFC 271.
While it was a vastly different fight from his first encounter, “The Last Stylebender” was still able to thwart Robert Whittaker, earning a unanimous decision after a five-round battle in their rematch on Saturday.
Adesanya was not only proud of his wins but also seemed happy with how things turned out after the second victory against Whittaker.
“[I’d give it] Not bad,” he said. He said, “Good evening in the office. Good chess match .”
After beating Whittaker and finishing him in the first meeting, Adesanya needed to be more determined to keep his title. The former champion had made many necessary adjustments to alter the outcome in the rematch.
Whittaker was ultimately able to win two rounds on a pair of scorecards, but it still wasn’t enough to pull off the upset. Adesanya was impressed with Whittaker’s performance, though he was more than confident in his victory after 25 minutes.
“It’s easier said than done,” he said. “Even if you’ve already been in there with me before. I don’t know people, I feel like they have goldfish memories, but when they’re in there with me, they realize ‘oh sh*t’ it’s not as easy as we thought.’ They just have to revert back to what they know.
” I wasn’t looking beyond Robert. He was very serious. Right all the way to the last bell. He was extremely dangerous. He caught me slipping one time and I was like good one cause I was really aware of it on the clinch, when we’d break away from the clinch, he was going to hit me and he caught me one on this side and I was like good one. I acknowledged it. I had fun in there.”
Given that he has already fallen to Adesanya twice, Whittaker will have to make it a lot more difficult to climb back up the list of contenders in order to secure another fight.
Trilogies are already a rarity in the sport, but it’s almost impossible for anybody to scratch and claw their way back to another fight after already losing twice previously. Adesanya, for his part, isn’t against it, but after winning back to back rematches with Whittaker, Marvin Vettori, he’s more excited about the future and eager to face new challenges.
“The division’s filled with killers, but I’m looking forward to fresh meat,” he said.
All signs point to Adesanya taking on a new opponent for his next title defense, after Jared Cannonier defeated Derek Brunson in an featured fight of the UFC 271 maincard.
Although he wasn’t able to focus on his win, Adesanya recognized Cannonier to be the de facto number one. 1 contender, and he’s already targeting June for a potential return to action.
“I just saw bits and pieces,” Adesanya said about Cannonier vs. Brunson. I think [Cannonier] was rocked. I saw he got taken down and then he elbowed Brunson. It was too much to take in. I’ll go back and watch the fights later on and just see what it is.
“But he made a statement, and I even told him after the weigh-ins — I said, ‘Look, please take this guy out so I can get some fresh meat.’ He said ‘I’m trying to work’ and I’m like, ‘Me, too.’ I’m a man of my word.”
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