Robert Whittaker still believes he and Israel Adesanya will fight for the third time.
Robert Whittaker and Adesanya first met at UFC 243 with ‘The Last Stylebender’ winning by second-round KO. After the loss, Whittaker rallied off three straight wins to earn another crack at the belt and came up short as he lost a decision at UFC 271 this past February.
Robert Whittaker climbing back up the ladder
Now, Robert Whittaker has since gone on to beat Marvin Vettori by decision and he believes there is a strong likelihood he faces Adesanya for the third time despite being 0-2.
“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.”
Israel Adesanya is set to defend his title in the main event of UFC 281 against Alex Pereira in a highly-anticipated bout. Should Adesanya win, Robert Whittaker is confident he will earn another crack at the belt and defeat the champ in his third attempt?
“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 said. “I think getting that third fight with Israel will be a deciding point for that or whoever else it is. Definitely [there will be a third fight with Adesanya,]” 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.”
Whittaker, as mentioned, is coming off the decision win over Vettori, and before that he lost to Adesanya. ‘The Reaper’ is currently 24-6 as a pro and is the number one contender at middleweight.
