Jon Anik is hoping all questions will be answered in regards to who is the best middleweight in the world at the end of UFC 271.
The headliner for the UFC’s February PPV event will be a rematch for the 185-pound title between Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker. They first met at UFC 243 where Adesanya became the undisputed champion with a second-round stoppage of Whittaker in front of a massive crowd in Melbourne, Australia.
Anik, who is teaming up with Modelo and DraftKings for the Golden Ticket Challenge, is excited to call the rematch and expects a much more competitive battle this time around.
“Israel Adesanya was certainly aware that this fight would probably come around again,” Anik said to MMA Fighting. “He’s never lost in the weight class and I think any time you have a championship fight that is as anticipated as their first meeting, that ends relatively quickly, you feel a little bit short changed. Although I was certain that Israel Adesnaya was undisputed champion of middleweights when I left there, I am now looking for closure. I think Izzy is, too.
“I think we’re gonna get a longer fight. Obviously there was a huge backdrop of 55,000 people [in their first fight], it will be a few less this time around, it will be stateside. This fight had to take place and both men are in good health .”
Whittaker admits he was not in the best headspace heading into their first matchup and relayed to MMA Fighting recently that he has as much clarity as he has had in his entire career heading into the rematch with Adesanya. The title was lost by “The Reaper”, but he bounced back and won three consecutive wins against Jared Cannonier, Darren Till, and Kelvin Gastelum, to get his shot at a title shot.
In the eyes of Anik, he believes everything Whittaker is saying about his current mindset and training camp.
“It is a great matchup, Anik stated. Anik said, “It is a rematch. There’s some heat. It’s set up perfectly with Robert Whittaker’s preparation. He has obviously been ubiquitously regarded as one of the hardest workers in the room, in the game, for a long time, but that doesn’t mean that every training camp is optimal — let’s not pretend he doesn’t have three, if not four children under the age of 10 — there’s a lot of different variables.
“When everything in your life isn’t completely aligned perfectly, sometimes that can rear its ugly head when it comes to a training session. And when you’re asking a lot of your body for two, three-a-days for eight or 12 weeks, it can be a lot, but this, from all indications, has been an optimal training camp for Robert Whittaker.”
