Israel Adesanya has revealed what Robert Whittaker would have to bring to the table in order to warrant a trilogy fight.
Prior to Adesanya’s rise to the top, Robert Whittaker was king of the middleweight division. However, at UFC 243, ‘The Last Stylebender’ put a brutal beating on Whittaker, essentially KOing him twice in the same fight.
Three years ago today, Israel Adesanya knocked out Robert Whittaker to become king of the middleweights
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— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) October 5, 2022
Whittaker did bounce back well. After taking some time out from the sport to focus on himself and his family, ‘The Reaper’ jumped back into the fray with aplomb, quickly racking up three consecutive victories over Darren Till, Kelvin Gastelum, and Jared Cannonier.
These wins were enough to warrant a rematch against Israel Adesanya, and at UFC 271, the two rivals squared off once again. This time Whittaker gave a fair account of himself, going blow for blow with the champ. However, whilst many at home were split as to who should have won, the judges all saw it for ‘The Last Stylebender.’
Since that fight, Whittaker put a clinic against former title challenger Marvin Vettori, and now appears set to take on Paulo Costa in Perth. Whittaker’s goal is still clearly to climb his way back to the top, but a trilogy bout against a champion who already holds two wins over the challenger is a hard sell.
However, when speaking with Fox Sports Australia this week, Israel Adesanya laid out exactly what would incentive him to face ‘The Reaper’ a third time.
He simply stated: “Money. Millions and millions of dollars.”
“That’s the only thing he can have. So go do something to generate enough f…ing interest in a third fight, generate enough money, and I’ll do it. I’ll even do it in Australia again. Do it in a big stadium.”
However, before he can look too deeply into a trilogy with Whittaker, Israel Adesanya must overcome another old foe, this time from his days on the Kickboxing circuit. The champ will attempt to defend his title this weekend at UFC 281 against Alex ‘Poatan’ Pereira, a dangerous Brazilian striker who is the only man alive who can claim to have KO’d ‘The Last Stylebender’ in competition.
Under the bright lights of the Big Apple, #UFC281 is ready to shine
— UFC (@ufc) November 8, 2022
