Robert Whittaker reveals changes he will make for UFC title rematch with Israel Adesanya
Robert Whittaker revealed the changes he will make for his upcoming UFC title rematch with middleweight champion Israel Adesanya.
Whittaker and Adesanya meet in the main event of next month’s UFC 271 pay-per-view card for UFC middleweight supremacy. The two previously met back at UFC 243 in October 2019. At the time, Whittaker was the middleweight champ and Adesanya beat him to claim the title. Since then, Adesanya has continued to run through the field at 185lbs, while losing once up at 205lbs. Whittaker, meanwhile, has continued to win fights in the middleweight division. After winning his last three fights in a row, the UFC decided that he earned the chance to fight Adesanya again.
In the first fight between Whittaker and Adesanya, we saw Whittaker suffer a pretty vicious knockout loss. Overall, the fight wasn’t as competitive as one would have expected. But “The Reaper” believes he has made the changes he needs to in order to beat Adesanya the second time around. Speaking to MMAjunkie.com, Whittaker explained how the rematch will be different.
“Getting hit in the face – definitely that one (was my biggest mistake),” Whittaker admitted. “Probably my recklessness – I was recklessly charging in. I was falling into every one of his baits, every one of his traps, and just stubbornly trying to press forward, trying to press the attack, (and) rip his head off. That’s what was going through my head, and it didn’t work. It didn’t work. That’s not how I usually fight. You don’t see me fight like that in a lot of my other fights, forever. I have addressed it. I’ve reflected on it, and we’re going to try to get in there and do something different this next time.”
Do you think Robert Whittaker has what it takes to defeat Israel Adesanya in the rematch and reclaim the UFC middleweight title?
