Robert Whittaker has opened up on turning down a rematch against Israel Adesanya.
Whittaker thoroughly outwrestled and outclassed Kelvin Gastelum in the main event of the recently concluded UFC Fight Night. The Reaper scored 50-45 on all three judges’ scorecard as he eased to a unanimous decision win.
The win cemented Whittaker’s position as the number one ranked middleweight contender, and put him in pole position to face the middleweight king Israel Adesanya in a rematch.
Whittaker also called out Adesanya in the post-fight interview saying that he has got new tricks up his sleeves, and will be an immensely better version of his UFC 243 self.
However, in an interesting turn of events, Marvin Vettori was booked to fight against Israel Adesanya and the fight was confirmed for UFC 263 on the 12th of June, with the location yet to be announced.
Whittaker spoke to Submission Radio about this and explained what really happened.
The Aussie claimed that he was asked by Adesanya and his camp to agree to a rematch, as early as June. Whittaker then revealed that accepting for a rematch in June, was not possible for him since he was coming off a hard five-round fight.
Whittaker told Submission Radio:
“I found out about the title shot directly after my fight. And, they said fight Adesanya in June blah blah blah blah…I had just come off a hard five-round fight. I had some injuries I had to deal with, like my hands were busted and my shin was busted, and I have to go home and then I have two weeks of quarantine…It just wasn’t possible…I can’t help but feel this was a little ploy from Adesanya’s camp.”
Whittaker however divulged that he would wait for the winner of the Vettori- Adesanya fight, take his time and then take on the winner of that fight.
Israel Adesanya claims he is living in Marvin Vettori’s head rent-free
Marvin Vettori came really close to defeating Israel Adesanya at UFC on Fox: Poirier vs Gaethje in April 2018. The Italian Dream narrowly lost the fight via. split decision.
Adesanya then went on to become the champion.
And now, he feels that his opponent at UFC 263 has been holding on to that loss, more than his wins.
Vettori, on the other hand, hasn’t lost since that Adesanya fight. He has never been finished in his career as well. The Italian Dream will be itching to become the first UFC champion from Italy.
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