Midnight Mania! Cancel Whittaker Vs. DDP ASAP!

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Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Just over a week ago, UFC announced former champion Robert Whittaker vs. rising contender Dricus du Plessis for UFC 290 this July in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Middleweight bout carries significant implications for the future, as it’s scheduled to be a title eliminator, meaning the victor gets a shot at Israel Adesanya.

From a rankings point of view, it makes plenty of sense. Whittaker is still working towards a third shot against “Stylebender,” and du Plessis could use a Top Five victory to cement his own argument for a title shot. However, UFC veteran Chael Sonnen argues it’s a bad move, because the fight to make is du Plessis vs. Adesanya, right here and right now. In fact, he believes the current match up should be canceled.

“It’s not too late,” Sonnen said on his YouTube channel (via MMAJunkie). “We shouldn’t have made du Plessis vs. Whittaker, should we have, guys? We should’ve made du Plessis vs. Adesanya. Izzy says, ‘I’m not going to fight anybody till I fight him.’ Izzy doesn’t care if he doesn’t beat Whittaker. … Matter of fact, Izzy predicts Whittaker is going to beat Du Plessis. Izzy doesn’t care if he’s coming off a loss. He doesn’t care if he’s coming off a knockout humiliating defeat, he’s going to fight him next.”

The reason Sonnen feels so strongly is that Adesanya and du Plessis have real beef. Ever since du Plessis argued about whether or not Adesanya was a real African champion, he’s been on his would-be foe’s mind. Adesanya has released several verbal tirades, and “Stylebender” only seems to be more motivated to kick du Plessis’ ass week-to-week.

If booked quickly, that’s a fight that would quickly build serious hype and move pay-per-view (PPV) buys. Instead, du Plessis will have to defeat Whittaker, a task no Middleweight except Adesanya has been able to accomplish in the previous nine years. The most likely outcome here is that the potential money fight goes down the drain, lining up Adesanya vs. Whittaker 3.

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Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.