John McCarthy talks Robert Whittaker vs. Marvin Vettori, highlights Israel Adesanya's dominance in the middleweight division
John McCarthy thinks it'll be hard to book either Robert Whittaker or Marvin Vettori a trilogy fight against Israel Adesanya.
'The Reaper' and 'The Italian Dream' will fight at UFC Paris on September 3. Both have lost to the champion twice, but this matchup is looking like a No.1 contender's fight.
Adesanya will defend the middleweight title against Jared Cannonier at UFC 276 on July 2. If 'The Last Stylebender' wins, he will be out of new title contenders at the moment.
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The only top 5 ranked middleweight Israel Adesanya has not already defeated is Jared Cannonier. 👀 #UFC263 https://t.co/g1zjeo2ekR
Cannonier could be the last option to stop Adesanya. With a win at UFC 276, the middleweight champion will have wins over all of the top contenders. During an episode of WEIGHING IN, John McCarthy highlighted how dominant 'The Last Stylebender' has been at middleweight:
"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."
Adesanya's only option would be to fight the winner of Vettori vs. Whittaker, both of whom he has already beaten twice. During the same episode of the podcast, McCarthy was not too optimistic about a trilogy happening with either fighter:
"It's tough to put either guy, right now, back against the champ."
Depending on how Vettori vs. Whittaker plays out, McCarthy could be wrong on this one. 'The Italian Dream' had a phenomenal performance against Paulo Costa last time out, so an impressive performance against 'The Reaper' would most likely lead to a title shot. If Whittaker comes out on top, he may need another win before getting the title shot.
Watch John McCarthy discuss Whittaker vs. Vettori below:
John McCarthy leans towards Kamaru Usman beating Israel Adesanya
Although Adesanya is running out of natural middleweight contenders, one super-fight option comes from welterweight. Kamaru Usman has mentioned going up to middleweight. However, he has also stated that he won't fight 'The Last Stylebender' due to their African background. During the same episode, John McCarthy predicted the matchup by saying:
"You would hope that he doesn't, and [Usman] fights the smart fight and says, 'I'm gonna use my hands to get to my takedowns and take him off his feet, take him out of the danger zone.' I don't know what the odds would be on it, but I would lean towards Kamaru Usman actually winning that fight."
Usman has claimed he will never accept the fight, but it's still fun to consider these fantasy matchups. 'The Nigerian Nightmare' has a clear path to victory with his wrestling. Meanwhile, if Adesanya can keep the fight standing and use his striking advantage, he will have a solid chance of winning. For now, they will have to keep dominating their divisions until someone can dethrone them.
Israel Adesanya vs. Jared Cannonier is going down at #UFC276 🏆 https://t.co/AlIZNTr2W6