Robert Whittaker explains why he doesn't see an immediate Israel Adesanya vs. Alex Pereira rematch happening
Israel Adesanya's first defeat at middleweight lost him his title last November at UFC 281. He fell to his former Glory Kickboxing foe Alex Pereira for the third time in his combat sports career.
Despite Adesanya's previously dominant reign, an immediate title rematch is unlikely, according to Robert Whittaker.
Adesanya's rule saw him clean out all the top contenders, including Whittaker and Marvin Vettori twice, and Jared Canonnier. Such a title reign would appear to warrant an immediate title rematch, but Whittaker has suggested otherwise.
Robert Whittaker, a perennial middleweight contender and former champion, stated that it made sense for Adesanya to wait on the result of a potential championship fight between him and Pereira before attempting to pick off the winner to regain his title.
In an interview with Fox News Australia, 'The Reaper' said:
"I can very well see Izzy [vs.] Pereira not happening. Izzy just letting me and Pereira punch on for a little bit. And then him sliding in to fight the winner, that makes perfect sense, you know? [Laughs] If you write it down. But it is a crazy world out there, it is a crazy time for the division. What the UFC has planned for March [and] April is anybody's guess at this point."
Watch Whittaker's full interview on YouTube below:
Israel Adesanya reveals the "freakiest" athlete that UFC PI has ever tested
Israel Adesanya was previewing the upcoming UFC 283 pay-per-view on his YouTube channel when he revealed the most impressive athlete tested at the UFC Performance Institute.
Adesanya declared Brazilian light heavyweight Johnny Walker as a fighter who exceeded all benchmarks during testing. 'The Last Stylebender' said:
"You know what I've heard about Walker at the UFC PI? I've heard - because you know we do these tests at the UFC PI - Walker is like the freakiest athlete they've had. They do like a pull test, like a three, two, one, pull...and then you do the bike test, you do the jump test, the height test. I've heard he's the freakiest athlete they've had."
Adesanya also expressed wanting to see more of Walker in terms of results after his coaching switch to John Kavanagh:
"He's a freak athlete, but now I feel like with [coach John] Kavanagh, he's getting the right guidance because before he didn't have all that."
Check out Israel Adesanya's complete preview of UFC 283: Teixeira vs Hill below: