Israel Adesanya recently captured what once belonged to him. UFC 287 saw ‘The Last Stylebender’ knock out Alex Pereira in their MMA rematch, making the duo 1-1 against each other. This result has now opened doors to several matchups for Adesanya. One such matchup is the unfinished business Izzy had left with former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker.
The main event between him and Alex Pereira has now made their rivalry all the more interesting. Adesanya secured a stunning second-round finish over ‘Poatan’ in their second Octagon outing. This result has now led to the possibility of a potential rubber match between him and Robert Whittaker.
Several fighters took to their social media to congratulate the Nigerian-born Kiwi on regaining his belt back. One of the athletes on the long list was his foe and former middleweight champion, Robert Whittaker. The 32-year-old took to Twitter and congratulated Izzy while mentioning a possible matchup at the same time. Whittaker wrote, “@stylebender Amazing fight and great story finisher. Rest up, see you soon. @ufc“
@stylebender Amazing fight and great story finisher. Rest up, see you soon. 👊🏽 @ufc
— Robert Whittaker (@robwhittakermma) April 9, 2023
However, Robert doesn’t seem to be overly happy with making the above tweet. He appeared on the Submission Radio podcast today and expressed his regret about posting it. Robert stated the reason for his regret was that almost everyone was calling Israel out, and he didn’t want to be a part of the herd. Robert said, “Well, for one, with the tweet I feel like a c**k.”
“Because everybody and their mate started calling him out. I didn’t realize everybody was calling him out, otherwise, I would’ve just kept my mouth shut. I don’t wanna join those dudes. Like yeah, I want that fight, but not at the cost of calling him out like everybody else. Everybody wants a piece of him. This made me feel so mainstream.” added Whittaker.
Robert Whittaker wants the trilogy against Israel Adesanya next
Speaking on the show, ‘The Reaper‘ explained how people hounded him with questions about fighting Israel once again. He mentioned that he always shrugged his shoulders off as a response. However, UFC 287 seems to have changed his decision regarding facing ‘The Last Stylebender‘ for a third time.
The former middleweight champion said, “Now I do care, I do care. and I’ve realized I care. I want to fight Izzy for the belt and I wanna take the belt off Izzy. That’s what I wanna do. I know it’s a puzzle I can work out and it excites me, the challenge of trying to beat him, of getting back the belt from him. I’m never gonna stop hunting him, ever.”
It is still unclear if Robert will be next in line for the title shot. Coach Eugene recently expressed interest in Israel challenging for the light heavyweight gold. However, Robert seems to have already started the build-up to the rubber match. The 32-year-old took a jibe at the number of attempts Adesanya took to regain his belt.
Robert shared, “It took Izzy four times to beat Alex Pereira to get his redemption arc. It’s like it will only take me three to get mine. I guarantee you, the last time was very very close. And my headspace was nowhere near as good as it is now. So with the better skillset and the better mindset, he loses that fight.”
#UFC271 Official Result: Israel Adesanya (@StyleBender 48-47, 48-47, 49-46) defeats Robert Whittaker by Unanimous Decision
— UFC News (@UFCNews) February 13, 2022
The duo locked horns for the first time at UFC 243 in Melbourne, Australia. Israel got the better of Whittaker via a stunning 2nd-round KO. The UFC 271 rematch saw Adesanya secure a decisive victory in what fans considered a really close fight.
In an imminent trilogy bout between ‘The Reaper’ and ‘Izzy‘, who do you think walks out of the Octagon with the middleweight belt? Let us know in the comments down below.