UFC 243 News: Israel Adesanya talks about challenges posed by Robert Whittaker, his reach advantage, fight camp and more
Israel Adesanya spoke to the media ahead of his UFC 243 main event fight against Robert Whittaker.
The Last Stylebender was asked a plethora of questions ranging from his fight camp, the unforeseen challenges that he may face against Whittaker and how he plans on tackling them.
Adesanya is a crafty striker - quite possibly the best in the world right now - but does he think he will be up against something he hasn't come across in his entire career when he faces Whittaker?
Adesanya is confident in his abilities and feels that he can pick apart Whittaker with ease.
I think he's a guy I can pick apart easily, but as a challenger I haven't faced before I don't think so, I think he just does what he does very well. But there's going to be a certain amount of awkwardness that he has that I feel like I haven't seen before but he can try and prove me wrong. From what I see, I’ll pick him apart quite easily.
The tale of the tape clearly gives Adesanya the height and reach advantage and the Interim Middleweight Champion opined that his large frame would certainly cause Whittaker some problems.
100%, you know. I have attributes that I use very well and I think what his camp might look at is the last fight and think oh, well Kelvin was able to get close. That was just an error on our part and a beautifully crafted game plan on their part on how to get close but we've taken care of those errors and those misjudgments on our side so yes, I’m going to be able to use my height and reach like I always have.
Whittaker was asked about possibly experiencing some ring rust when he steps into the Octagon again after more than a year. The Reaper stated that he has constantly kept himself active while being out of action and that ring rust shouldn't be an issue for him.
Adesanya commented on Whittaker's statement and claimed that there is a big difference between sparring in front of 50 people and fighting amid 60,000 fans inside a packed arena.
For ring rust he can say what he has to say to keep him believing but there's a difference between fighting in front of 50 people in some hall and fighting in front of 60,000 people in a stadium. I've been active, he hasn’t. I have momentum on my side, he hasn’t. I really don't care if he's ring-rusted or if he's the best ever that he's ever been. So yes, I just focus on me at the end of the day.
Adesanya also revealed that his camp is set up in Auckland, which is where he has done a majority of his training for the fight. He also opened up about the electric atmosphere at City Kickboxing in Auckland.
Oh in Auckland, I mean, nowhere else I’d rather be, nowhere else I’d be. So I've been doing all my UFC fight camps at Auckland with the same people and that’s not going to change for this camp no matter what.
Yes, I mean, oh right now this week is just more like we can see the finish line so we're just like, get me out of here. We just want to fight; we all just want to fight, me, Brad and Dan, we're kind of just overall…
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