Robert Whittaker doesn’t see Israel Adesanya reclaiming the UFC middleweight title.
Middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis (21-2 MMA, 7-0 UFC) makes his first title protection in opposition to Adesanya (24-3 MMA, 13-3 UFC) within the UFC 305 headliner on Aug. 17 at RAC Area in Perth (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+).
Adesanya misplaced his middleweight title to Sean Strickland in an upset loss at UFC 293. After ending Whittaker by TKO at UFC 290, Du Plessis went on to dethrone Strickland to say the middleweight title at UFC 297.
Watching Du Plessis and Adesanya’s latest fights in opposition to Strickland, Whittaker thinks there’s a blueprint for Du Plessis to get his hand raised.
“I’m going to lean towards Dricus,” Whittaker advised MMA Junkie. “I feel what he displayed in his combat in opposition to Sean Strickland, that ahead stress and that awkward, unorthodox fashion – particularly with the success Sean had doing that to Izzy – I feel that’s a recipe to beat Adesanya.”
With Khamzat Chimaev withdrawing attributable to sickness, Whittaker (25-7 MMA, 16-5 UFC) will now face Ikram Aliskerov (15-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC on ABC 6 fundamental occasion at Kingdom Area in Riyadh (ABC, ESPN, ESPN+).
His preliminary combat with Chimaev was dubbed as a No. 1 contender bout. When requested if a win over Aliskerov would have the identical title implications, Whittaker mentioned he can’t focus on that.
“(The title is) not one thing I actually give attention to an excessive amount of – I don’t look previous the combat,” Whittaker mentioned. “I perceive the risk and the gravity that Ikram’s going to convey to the combat. I can’t afford to entertain ideas previous him. I’m solely centered and locked in on attempting to take his head off within the 25 minutes I’m given.”
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