Robert Whittaker and Israel Adesanya are set to unify their middleweight titles. The pair will headline the upcoming UFC 243 pay-per-view (PPV) event on October 5.
No venue or location has been made official for the fight as of this writing. However, Australia is expected to play host to the championship matchup. As the buildup progresses, “Stylebender” has been making things personal between himself and “Bobby Knuckles.” The Nigerian champ, who is never shy to mix up the trash-talk with anyone in the UFC, has been taking shots at Whittaker as of late.
But Whittaker has taken everything in stride throughout the process, opting to laugh things off rather than engage in Adesanya’s game. Speaking to Submission Radio, Whittaker explained why people shouldn’t mistake his reluctance to engage in trash-talking as a weakness:
“Let me clear something up quickly, just because I don’t talk trash and I’m not mouthy and I’m not mouthing off like I’m in the school yard, doesn’t mean I don’t take this for what it is. I am doing everything in my power to break you, because we are going to go fight in an octagon. And I don’t play this. This isn’t a game to me.
“I treat this as if this would be my last fight ever, and I always have. And I don’t need to smack talk to get in that mind frame, I’m already there. Like, we’re gonna go fight to the death in so many months time and I’m gonna give everything I have, I just don’t smack talk though. But don’t misinterpret that for me not taking the fight seriously.
“You can see every one of my opponents when we have the first face off or when we come face to face after the fight’s been announced, they know, they know that, okay, this guy isn’t playing. I’m not playing. It’s not a game.”
Adesanya has also made an enemy in light heavyweight champion Jon Jones. “Bones” went as far as volunteering to help Whittaker train for his upcoming matchup with Adesanya. While Whittaker believes the offer might have simply been a publicity stunt, he’s open to taking Jones up on the offer all the same:
“It might have been publicity, but the thing is, he doesn’t really need publicity from that. It’s more like, I have guys that can move like Adesanya now if I need it. And the other thing is, Jon lives all the way in the States, and I’m here in Sydney.
“So yeah, if our paths cross somehow, I’d like to take him up on some training. I think that would be great. I think he’d be a great body to move with. But we’ll have to wait and see.”
Do you think Whittaker is going to unleash a beast at UFC 243? Who are you picking in “Bobby Knuckles” against Adesanya?
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