Watch: When Israel Adesanya's father correctly predicted the outcome of title fight against "one-dimensional" Robert Whittaker
Israel Adesanya is set to take on Robert Whittaker at UFC 271 for the fourth defense of his middleweight gold.
The two have quite a history together, with their previous outing coming in 2019. On that date, Adesanya defeated Whittaker to capture the UFC middleweight title.
Ahead of their first fight, Israel Adesanya's dad gave an interesting take on 'The Reaper' in an interview with Submission Radio. He suggested that Whittaker was "one-dimensional" and had only done well against wrestlers in the past.
"Robert is one-dimensional and, unfortunately, people think he's very fast. He's not as fast as Anderson Silva. All the people that he has fought and he did very well against, they are all wrestlers, from [Yoel] Romero, Jacare [Souza], [Derek] Brunson, [Brad] Tavares; the only striker that he ever fought was Stephen Thompson and look what happened. It is unbeliveable that people forget that Israel has had over 80 fights in kickboxing and only 5 losses."
Adesanya's dad was proven right just a day after making this statement. 'The Last Stylebender' went on to earn a TKO victory over 'The Reaper' in the second round.
However, in the years since, Whittaker has recorded victories over efficient strikers Darren Till, Jared Cannonier, and Kelvin Gastelum.
Watch Israel Adesanya's dad in conversation with Submission Radio below:
Israel Adesanya is taking Robert Whittaker seriously ahead of UFC 271
Despite comfortably beating Robert Whittaker in the past, Israel Adesanya is still taking 'The Reaper' very seriously. 'The Last Stylebender is aware that Whittaker will be motivated to take revenge against him in their UFC 271 rematch.
Time for the rematch 🍿 #UFC271 https://t.co/Wmxcl7GMVx
Ahead of the second clash, Whittaker has accepted that 'The Last Stylebender' got into his head the first time around. According to Adesanya, that's what makes him take 'The Reaper' seriously.
In a recently uploaded YouTube video, the Nigerian-New Zealander said:
"He finally admitted that I was in his head and he was emotional... I was like, ‘Yeah, you finally admitted what I was saying this whole f***ing time.’ So that makes me take him seriously. He’s accepted that, so that makes me take him seriously that, okay, he’s got a point to prove, as well. He’s been training, he’s motivated. That gets me up in the morning to shut him up again worse than the first time. That’s what gets me motivated."
Watch Adesanya's YouTube video below: