Robert Whittaker and Israel Adesanya at UFC 243 face-offs (Credits: Forbes)
Israel Adesanya beat Robert Whittaker at UFC 243 to win the middleweight championship
Israel Adesanya was in his element against Marvin Vettori in the main event of UFC 263. He had little to no trouble in seeing off the ‘Italian Dream’.
With a unanimous decision win, scoring 50-45 on all three judges’ scorecard, Adesanya successfully defended his middleweight title for the third time.
A lot was expected from Vettori in this fight, since he had lost very narrowly to Adesanya, when the pair met at UFC on Fox: Poirier vs Gaethje back in April 2018.
However, Adesanya showed the Italian why he is called the middleweight king, with a careful and measured performance.
Barring a couple of takedowns and submission attempts, there was nothing Vettori could do to disrupt Izzy.
Following his victory against Vettori, Adesanya called out number one ranked middleweight contender Robert Whittaker.
Speaking at the post-fight interview with Joe Rogan, Izzy had the following to say:
“My arch nemesis…What’s his name? Whittaker, Bobby Knuckles…I don’t know what the f*ck is gonna happen with this whole COVID sh*t. We need to run that back in Auckland. We need to run that back in my territory this time. I’ll tell you when it is. You don’t get to decide, I get to decide.”
The pair had already met once at UFC 243, when Adesanya knocked out the Australian to become the middleweight champion.
Whittaker has bounced back since that loss, and has cemented his position as the number 1 contender.
Since the fight was held in Whittaker’s backyard – Melbourne, Adesanya wanted it to be held in his hometown, Auckland this time.
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