“Dude, the guy has fought twice in three years. Imagine me as champion in three years what I could do.”
It’s rare to see fighters talking trash about UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker, but streaking contender Israel Adesanya is getting frustrated with ‘The Reaper’s’ inactivity as champ.
Whittaker only fought once last year, defending his middleweight title against Yoel Romero, and the 28-year-old was forced to pull out of this year’s title defense against Kelvin Gastelum after suffering a collapsed bowel just a few hours before the UFC 234 main event.
Adesanya, who will challenge Gastelum this weekend for the interim middleweight strap, is tired of Whittaker holding up the division and not doing his part to generate excitement in the UFC promotional department.
“Dude, the guy has fought twice in three years. Imagine me as champion in three years what I could do. My first year look what I did in UFC, so imagine me in three years what I could do,” Adesanya said on a recent edition of The Ariel Helwani MMA Show (h/t Adam Guillen Jr. of MMA Mania). “And I actually work, I actually show up to work. Even though I don’t like it all the time, I actually get all the media shit done.”
“I actually perform. So yeah, he can be all like, ‘I’m not here to talk…’ get the fuck out of here. This is part of the game, this is how you become immortal in this game. I am doing my part and that’s all I care about. He can stay over there and do that part.”
If Adesanya beats Gastelum, it’s expected that ‘The Last Stylebender’ will go on to face Whittaker in a middleweight title unification bout.
UFC 236, which features Gastelum vs. Adesanya as the co-main event, takes place this Saturday, April 13 at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.