‘Better prepared’ Whittaker ready for Adesanya
Robert Whittaker is promising a more refined approach for his attempt to dethrone UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya in their looming rematch.
The trans-Tasman clash will be held at UFC 271 in Houston, Texas, on February 13.
Whittaker, Auckland-born and Australian-raised, still broods over his title loss to Adesanya in Melbourne in late 2019, and has vowed to make the necessary adjustments to end the Nigerian Kiwi’s unbeaten run at this weight.
Whittaker admitted to MMA Junkie that he allowed his ego to get in his way then, and he became ‘‘reckless’’ in his attempts to pressure Adesanya.
‘‘I was recklessly charging in. I was falling into every one of his baits, every one of his traps, and just stubbornly trying to press forward, trying to press the attack, [and] rip his head off,’’ Whittaker said.
‘‘That’s what was going through my head, and it didn’t work. It didn’t work. That’s not how I usually fight. You don’t see me fight like that in a lot of my other fights, forever.
‘‘I have addressed it. I’ve reflected on it, and we’re going to try to get in there and do something different this next time.’’
Whittaker, 31, has rebounded with three impressive wins to earn his rematch and feels he is a more mature fighter now as he attempts to win back his belt.
‘‘The only time I feel as an athlete you can correct yourself, you can do better, you can get better, is when you acknowledge your mistakes,’’ Whittaker said.
‘‘That’s what I’ve been doing since that first loss [to Adesanya].
And every fight since that loss, I’ve been putting things together, acknowledging what I could do better, what I did wrong, what I could change, and it’s all led me to here. I’m very excited to get in there and put my skills to the test again.’’
Whittaker has vowed to up his mental game for this fight, conceding Adesanya won that crucial part of their last promotion.
‘‘I think it was a whole host of different things that got into my own head, and there was a lot of things on my end – it’s the way I handled them and the way I took them that made it worse,’’ he said.
‘‘I’ve come to terms with all of that, and I’m a different fighter now than I was then.’’