Robert Whittaker believes he and Israel Adesanya are destined to cross paths again after almost beating ‘The Last Stylebender’ and ‘taking everything away from him’ in their middleweight title rematch at UFC 271.
Whittaker, the former champion, is looking for another crack at the middleweight title after ‘running through everybody else’ in the division and bouncing back from his most recent defeat to Adesanya with a shutout victory over Marvin Vettori, the No. 3-ranked middleweight in the world, at UFC Paris.
‘The Reaper’ is itching for a third title fight with Adesanya after losing the first bout via knockout and coming up short on the judges’ scorecards in the sequel but outlanding the champ in significant strikes to the head 38-36.
“I know that I have one more shot against Izzy if that’s what it is or if he gets dethroned I definitely have another shot at gold,” Whittaker told Ariel Helwani during a recent appearance on The MMA Hour (h/t Alexander K. Lee of MMA Fighting). “I think getting that third fight with Israel will be a deciding point for that or whoever else it is.”
“Definitely ” he added. “It would be silly not to because I’m just running through everybody else. Especially the way the second fight left off, I’d have to have come the closest since he’s gotten the title to taking it back off him.”
Adesanya will defend his middleweight title against surging contender and former kickboxing rival Alex Pereira at the upcoming UFC 281 PPV on Nov. 12 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
