He's made the same mistake that Robert Whittaker did - Israel Adesanya reveals when beef with Jared Cannonier became personal
Israel Adesanya is gearing up for his fight against Jared Cannonier at UFC 276 this Saturday. Since the start of the fight build-up, the UFC middleweight champion has been vocal about the respect he has for the challenger, but it appears that their beef just got personal.
Speaking in a video uploaded to his YouTube channel, 'The Last Stylebender' revealed that his rivalry with Cannonier became personal after 'The Killa Gorilla' made the same mistake as his former rival Robert Whittaker. Here's what the champion said:
"He's made the same mistake that Rob made in the first fight. Rob made some stupid meme and posted and I was like, 'Why you talking sh*t? You never ever talk sh*t.' Now this guy [Cannonier] goes out and starts talking sh*t about me and I see these things because my brother or my dad or someone sent it to me and I was like, 'Huh' and insert the Michael Jordon meme. I took that personally."
Israel Adesanya was referring to Jared Cannonier's recent Instagram story, which saw the contender take aim aim at 'The Last Stylebender' with a photo of Jan Blachowicz. Cannonier captioned the post:
"Jans description of losing the belt. When you lose the belt it tastes like sh*t. Hey @stylebender Have you ever tried sh*t?"
Adesanya responded to Cannonier by stating that 'The Killa Gorilla' was acting out of character and thought he was being funny.
Check out Cannonier's post below, with Adesanya's response:
Watch Israel Adesanya discuss his beef with Jared Cannonier below:
Israel Adesanya on his next potential opponent after UFC 276
Israel Adesanya will be aiming to make a fifth successful title defense at UFC 276 to continue his dominant run in the 185-pound division. The champion is confident he will finish Jared Cannonier this Saturday and is already looking at who could be his next opponent.
In a recent conversation with Niko Pajarillo of Fox Sports Australia, 'The Last Stylebender' discussed his upcoming bout and said that he sees either Sean Strickland or Alex Pereira as the next contender for the title, should he get past Cannonier.
The 32-year-old also stated that he doesn't plan on moving up to 205 lbs any time soon. Here's what Adesanya said:
"Pereira and Strickland, that's probably the next... depends on how the fight goes, that's the next move! But 205, that's down the line. That's not something I'm looking at right now... Let them enjoy themselves, let them enjoy the new champion."
Watch Israel Adesanya discuss his plans post-UFC 276 below:
Adesanya holds an MMA record of 22-1, with his sole loss coming against Jan Blachowicz in his bid to capture the light heavyweight title. The 32-year-old is on a two-fight win streak and is fresh off a victory over Robert Whittaker in their rematch at UFC 271 in February.