UFC 271 is only a mere 5 days away and the promotional activities are heating up. Recently, Robert Whittaker spoke on the difficulty of taking Israel Adesanya down. While head coach Eugene Bareman spoke on how the first fight played out. Now, the champ himself has spoken on what went down that night.
Israel Adesanya will look to have his 4th title defence on the February 12 event. However, it all started inside the Marvel Stadium at UFC 243 when he defeated Whittaker to unify the 185lbs championships. In a recent video on his own channel, Adesanya spoke about what his mindset was heading into that fight.
On his way to the octagon, Israel made perhaps the most memorable entrance in the history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He showed an incredible display of dancing moves and his antics woo-ed the spectators inside the arena. Izzy revealed that the fight became secondary to him the night before the event and he was more stressed out about getting his moves right. Adesanya also spoke on what Robert Whittaker’s mentality was heading into the cage.
Israel Adesanya: ‘Robert Whittaker has accepted his fate’
Before UFC 243, Robert Whittaker was not at his best. He was recovering from the surgery that he had a few months before. Israel Adesanya pointed it out in the interview. According to him, the former champ was too worried about the contest instead of being calm.
“Robert, I bet you before the first fight, he was in bed that night thinking about the fight and overthinking the fight. he will probably do it again, to be honest,” said the Nigerian native.
However, he also went on to say, Robert Whittaker will be a ‘dangerous’ opponent. “I think he will just accept (his fate). Which is good for him. it makes him dangerous. The fact that he will just accept, not defeat, but it’s his fate. it still makes him Really dangerous. So I have to take him seriously.”
Stylebender also spoke on how he altered his game plan on the fly and engaged in a fire-fight will Bobby Knuckles. “I was surprised with the way I played the game. I called an audible Without realizing it. Because we had a game plan but then I am mashed with energy. I was just like right you wanna stand 10 toes down? ** it. I can stand 10 toes down and get buck wild. So I matched his energy and I just called an audible I fought differently,”
The best version of @StyleBender we have seen is coming to Houston ????
— UFC (@ufc) February 2, 2022
[ ???? #UFC271 Countdown airs Sat Feb 5 at 8am ET on ESPN2 ] pic.twitter.com/HeysKostEa
Adesanya also said that after he dropped the Aussie, he knew that Whittaker was humbled. Will the 32-year old be able to repeat the history once again? Or ‘The Reaper’ will avenge his loss? Fans can find out by tuning in on February 12.
