Israel Adesanya successfully defended his UFC middleweight title last weekend against his adversary Robert Whittaker in a highly anticipated rematch in the main event at UFC 271. Fans were expecting a close contest but The Last Stylebender cruised past The Reaper and won the fight via unanimous decision.
Following his fourth title defense, Izzy uploaded a video on his YouTube channel where he discussed his entire rematch against Whittaker at UFC 271. In this video, Adesanya spoke about Whittaker’s performance and shared his thoughts about The Reaper’s adjustments after their first fight at UFC 243.
“He tripled up his jab at one point. That was a good adjustment, that’s how I think he caught me with this,” said Izzy pointing towards his cheek.
“With the grappling not really I think he realized how hard it was and he started to get tired but he hid it well though. He hid it even though I could see his physiological response was like you’re tired.”
The UFC Middleweight champion also made a bold claim that he is better than all the middleweights in the current roster. “Yeah, he hid it like his poker face was good. Not bad but I’m stronger than these guys though. I’m strong. He felt weak like when I grabbed when I broke his hands and I got Kimura grip. I was like Is that it.”
Israel Adesanya is targeting the Jared Cannonier fight in June/July
Israel Adesanya has outclassed all his opponents in the middleweight division so far. Following his win against Robert Whittaker at UFC 271, there aren’t many contenders in the division that Izzy is yet to face.
However, Jared Cannonier and Sean Strickland are two such contenders in the top five of the division that has not fought against the middleweight champion. Although Strickland might have to wait as Cannonier who has risen to the #2 spot in the division is coming off a big KO/TKO win over Derek Brunson at UFC 271. Therefore he would most likely be the number one contender for the title.
Consequently, in a recent episode of The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, Izzy has revealed the timeframe in which he wants to fight The Killer Gorilla.
Israel Adesanya says he wants 3 fights this year (push for 4). Wants Cannonier in June/July.#TheMMAHour
— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) February 16, 2022
It is needless to say that fight fans would be excited for this matchup as Cannonier’s knockout power is a big threat and it would be interesting to see how Adesanya tackles this challenge. Do let us know in the comments section who you think will emerge victorious between Adesanya and Cannonier if UFC schedules this bout?