Whittaker aims jab at ‘safe’ Adesanya
Robert Whittaker has accused rival Israel Adesanya of failing to live up to his own hype after the Kiwi champion’s insipid performance at UFC 276 in Las Vegas earlier this month.
Adesanya defended his middleweight crown for the fifth time with a unanimous decision win over American veteran Jared Cannonier at the T-Mobile Arena.
But ‘the Last Stylebender’ was jeered throughout the contest by a crowd that didn’t take kindly to his defensive, safety-first style, particularly after he had promised fireworks in the lead-up to the bout.
Adesanya admitted afterwards that he had an ‘‘off-night’’ before hitting out at the spectators who had booed his performance, saying they were ‘‘drunk’’ and ‘‘don’t know what real fighting is or real finesse’’.
However, Auckland-born Whittaker (24-6), who lost to Adesanya for the second time in their February rematch, believes MMA fans had good reason to complain given Adesanya’s lofty claims during the buildup.
‘‘I guess it wasn’t what he sold it to be. You know, they set up [that] there was gonna be this and that and this and that. Then none of that
came through. And that’s always the problem and the risk of talking it up like that,’’ Whittaker told Submission Radio.
Still, the 31-year-old Whittaker has plenty of respect for Adesanya’s skillset, calling him the ‘‘best defensive striker in the game’’ and conceding it would be ‘‘very hard’’ for someone to bring his long middleweight title reign to an end.
‘‘Adesanya just fought
defensively, safe, did what he needed to do to win. And mate, what more can you ask? Like, he got the W that way. I think people are gonna find it very hard to dethrone him, just because of the way he fights and the style.’’
Whittaker next returns to the octagon for a clash with another Adesanya victim Marvin Vettori (18-5-1) at UFC Paris in September.
He admitted he is ‘‘not satisfied
not being champ’’ and is determined to force a trilogy fight with the New Zealander, having felt he did enough to win their second bout.
‘‘I am not satisfied leaving the two losses to Israel. I am not satisfied being No 1. I want to beat the champ. I want to beat Israel. I want to be better. I want more,’’ Whittaker told Submission Radio.
‘‘I’m not going to fail, to come up that second time against Israel and just be like ‘all right, well I’m just not good enough’. No, I’m not. I’m not gonna do that. I’m better and I can get better, and I’m still hungry and I’m still going to get that fight, and I’m still gonna terrorise the division until I put my boots up.’’
Adesanya is expected to face rising contender Alex Pereira (6-1-0) next, after the Brazilian scored a show-stealing knockout of Sean Strickland on the UFC 276 undercard.
The pair have plenty of history, with Pereira owning two wins over Adesanya – one by decision, the other knockout – in kickboxing contests in 2016 and 2017 respectively.
Whittaker will be an interested observer if and when they meet in the octagon, predicting a cagey affair dominated by kicks.
‘‘I guess a big thing’s gonna be how Alex takes shots, how he handles the shots from Adesanya with the smaller gloves, because it’s not like Adesanya had an impossibly hard time hitting Alex in their kickboxing fight,’’ Whittaker predicted.
‘‘So, we’ll see how he takes the shots. But like I said, Adesanya’s got some of the best defensive striking in the game. Looking forward to the fight actually. It’s punch and kick each other to high heavens.
‘‘So, that’ll be fun.’’