Robert Whittaker positive a third fight vs. Israel Adesanya ‘definitely happens’
The Reaper sees no stoppage of going after the UFC middleweight championship soon.
Robert Whittaker lost in a middleweight championship rematch to Adesanya at UFC 271 this past February, but bounced back in a big way at UFC Paris with a one-sided unanimous decision win over top contender Marvin Vettori. It was the 13th win in his past 15 fights for Whittaker.
Having held onto his No. 1 contender spot in convincing fashion, Whittaker made it clear his goal is still to once again be UFC champion.
“I’m hunting that title shot,” Whittaker said on a recent episode of The MMA Hour. “That’s what I’m doing and that’s what I’m always going to be doing because that’s the only up direction. I’m a fiend for progress, I just want to move forward. I want to move up. And whoever’s got that ‘C’ above me, whoever is above me in the ranking is my next target, obviously.”
Whittaker raised eyebrows in his UFC Paris post-fight speech when he declared himself “the most dangerous man” in the middleweight division, a statement that needed some clarification given his two losses to Adesanya.
He explained on The MMA Hour that he typically inflicts more damage on his opponents than Adesanya does, a comment that is particularly pointed given the criticism that Adesanya has received in recent months for championship defenses that have been relatively drama-free.
“I’m the most dangerous man in the division,” Whittaker said. “Izzy, he’s the champion of the division, he beat me the last fight as well. He’s a great fighter. But I’m the most dangerous man. I can beat anyone in the division. That last fight against Israel I got within a hair’s breadth of taking everything away from him. Just the fights that I’ve been in and the opponents that I’ve had, I’m not just beating them. I’m flogging them. There’s a difference in that.
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