Israel Adesanya scores UFC 275, says it would "still be a 7" if Marvin Vettori vs. Robert Whittaker was on
Israel Adesanya recently rated UFC 275 in terms of how stacked the card is. 'The Last Stylebender' gave the card a ranking of 7 on the stack meter. Providing a breakdown of UFC 275, the UFC middleweight champion said:
"On the stack meter I would give it a seven."
Adesanya's brother, behind the frame, then reminded him that Robert Whittaker vs. Marvin Vettori was originally supposed to be a part of UFC 275 as well.
However, 'The Last Stylebender' believes the card would be seven irrespective of the middleweight top contender fight. The 32-year-old said:
"It would still be a seven."
Watch Adesanya's breakdown of UFC 275 below:
Both Robert Whittaker and Marvin Vettori have recorded two losses against Adesanya. The Nigerian-born Kiwi dethroned Whittaker at UFC 243 back in 2019 and recently recorded his fourth successful defense against 'The Reaper' in a rematch at UFC 271.
Meanwhile, Adesanya reeled in a split decision against Vettori in his sophomore UFC outing in 2018. In their second meeting, the 32-year-old thoroughly outclassed 'The Italian Dream' in a five-round affair at UFC 263.
Whittaker and Vettori were slated to meet at UFC 275 in what would effectively be the number-one contender fight. However, the fight won't materialise as 'The Reaper' has pulled out after suffering an injury early in camp. The fight has now been moved to UFC Paris, scheduled for September.
John McCarthy is sceptical about Robert Whittaker or Marvin Vettori fighting Israel Adesanya a third time
Israel Adesanya is currently scheduled to face number two-ranked middleweight contender Jared Cannonier at UFC 276 next month. Having walked through almost the entire division, Adesanya's only remaining challenge among the division's elite appears to be 'The Killa Gorilla'.
However, if 'The Last Stylebender' gets past Cannonier, he will have few options other than fighting the winner of Robert Whittaker vs. Marvin Vettori. According to former UFC referee John McCarthy, a trilogy against either Whittaker or Vettori is a hard sell considering the champion has recorded two wins over each of them. The 59-year-old said on the Weighing In podcast:
"It's the same thing for Vettori. He has fought 'Izzy' twice. Robert's fought him twice. They both have walked away with losses on both of them... Cannonier is in between at No.2, and he's fighting 'Izzy' next... It's tough to put either guy, right now, back against the champ."
Watch the Weighing In podcast below: