Israel Adesanya is set to take on Robert Whittaker for the second time at UFC 271. The middleweight champ, stood victorious in their previous encounter.
In a recent interview, Whittaker shared his thoughts on the fight which is just around the corner. He expresses how there is mutual respect between the fighters. Whittaker also claimed that his ego was the biggest reason for his performance in the last fight.
The former middleweight champion also believes that the hype and all the trash-talking in the previous fight got to him. Anger and hate is all that he could pick from the last style bender which ultimately got him exhausted, costing him to lose the fight.
On my way to training and feeling the great energy here in Houston Texas ???????????? #UFC271 #ReaperNation @UFC_AUSNZ @ufc pic.twitter.com/ZVNFimyIY7
— Robert Whittaker (@robwhittakermma) February 3, 2022
However, this time around, he seems to be a lot calmer and composed mentally getting into his preparation. On being asked about his views on the upcoming press conference and face-off, he says:
“It is just work, as usual, just another fight. It is going to be a hard fight no doubt because this is a re-match and I know how hard the fight is going to be. But my headspace has been as it has been in the last few fights. I have got to bring the calories down, make the weight, eat some food and get the paycheck to go home.”
On the other hand, Whittaker believes he can beat Adesanya this time as the middleweight champion looked “beatable” in his last fight. Also, with Adesanya’s loss to Jan Blachowicz, the critics believe that Adesanya has exposed himself showing some of his weaknesses.
Robert Whittaker is definitely eying looking to avenge he exhausted himself to suffer a knock-out loss to the middleweight champion in their previous encounter. However, he had to bear some hard criticism with respect to his previous fight.
Robert Whittaker talks about overcoming his ego
Whittaker has been very vocal about his ego being the biggest reason for his loss to Adesanya. He talks about the process of controlling his ego this time and also reflects on what went wrong the last time:
“Things did affect me, more than they would have, because of the ego. And I think, we all have egos. In places and quantities, ego is a good thing, especially for fighters. We’re fighters, and people are trying to take away what’s ours. But I think it got away with me because of the media, the atmosphere, and the tone. About the rivalry between Australia and New Zealand.”
The former champ looks to have worked on himself to display a better performance going into his second encounter with Adesanya. With this being a re-match, and all the hype that was created the last time, this fight will live up to all the expectations this time as well with both the fighters bringing in their best versions.
