Israel Adesanya’s coach reveals if Darren Till or Robert Whittaker is the frontrunner to face Stylebender

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4 years ago

Israel Adesanya talks during a press conference for UFC 248 at Toyota Center on February 07, 2020 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

Israel Adesanya could face Darren Till in his next fight at middleweight

UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya lost the light heavyweight title fight at UFC 259 against Jan Blachowicz.

And his coach, Eugene Bareman, was with Submission Radio discussing the future of ‘Izzy’ after his loss at 205.

The kickboxing coach did mention that Izzy would ‘chase’ Jan again if he wants another title shot in that division. Nevertheless, it is more likely that the Nigerian-born Kiwi will fight at Middleweight.

Darren Till could face Israel Adesanya in his next middleweight fight. (GETTY Images)

‘The Last Stylebender’ is, of course, the undisputed champion at 185 where he is yet to lose a fight. Now 20-1-0, his coach thinks that his next fight in that weight class would be against one of two names.

Robert Whittaker lost his belt to Izzy at UFC 243. And since then, the #1 ranked middleweight has been touted as Adesanya’s next opponent.

He is scheduled to take on Paulo Costa at UFC Fight Night 189. But it is the #4 ranked Darren Till who is considered as the ‘frontrunner’.

Darren Till vs Israel Adesanya could be Izzy’s next fight at middleweight

‘The Gorilla’ takes on Marvin Vettori at UFC Fight Night 188. And Bareman says that the duo’s opponents are not even in the conversation.

“There’s no Marvin Vettori. There’s no Paulo Costa. There’s Darren Till. Darren Till needs to win; and Robert Whittaker because he’s one of our brethren, he’s one of our brothers. He is a Kiwi. So, there are 2 fights.”

But it is Till that seems like he will get a shot at Izzy next as Bareman believes Adesanya has already swept through Whittaker.

“But Darren Till is the front-runner there. Darren Till and then hopefully, Robert. Hopefully when the world’s back to normal and Robert can be a massive fight. Probably Auckland. How is Robert the front-runner when, I don’t want to say bad things about Robert, but it wasn’t a competitive fight. He didn’t touch us.”

That would certainly be one tasty fight and something to keep Adesanya occupied. But the Kiwi is so far ahead of his competition at 185 that we can never rule out another excursion at 205.