Middleweight champion Robert Whittaker thinks new interim champion Israel Adesanya wants all of the spotlight.
And he’s getting it after his classic five-round war with Kelvin Gastelum in the co-main event of last weekend’s (April 13, 2019) UFC 236 from Atlanta. ‘The Last Stylebender’ survived a vicious fourth-round assault from Gastelum to rebound strongly in the final round and win a hard-fought decision.
Afterward, Adesanya was immediately set up for a massive unification bout with ‘The Reaper.’ Whittaker is currently on the sidelines healing from the serious intestinal issues that forced him out of February’s UFC 234. We’ve seen the otherwise impressive champion far too little in recent years.
Whittaker has only two fights since April 2017, both of them wars with Cuban Boogeyman Yoel Romero. Adesanya, meanwhile, has taken the UFC by storm with six wins since February 2018.
So with Adesanya the UFC’s next big thing, Whittaker is attempting to place some of the attention back on himself. Appearing on this week’s episode of ‘Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show,’ Whittaker claimed Adesanya couldn’t stand the fact that people supposedly liked him more:
Who’s More Popular?
It’s quite debatable if that’s the case or not.
Whittaker is certainly popular in his adopted home of Australia. But he’s seen a shot to headline a pay-per-view there dissipate in each of the last two years. As champion, he just hasn’t been able to stay healthy. He’s looked unbelievable when he has fought, however. His five-round war with Romero at last year’s UFC 225 was one of the best fights all year, yet that seems like a decade ago in today’s fast-moving fight
Hopefully, he can return to fight Adesanya sometime soon. ‘The Last Stylebender’ wants to take some time off to heal up himself so that could help Whittaker make it to the fight. If and when it happens, he thinks it’s the biggest fight Australia and New Zealand, one that will gain huge numbers:
Big Shoes To Fill
Whittaker vs. Adesanya is a no-brainer for the next huge fight in Australia. If it will be the biggest fight of all-time Down Under is another question. November 2015’s UFC 193 gained a record-setting attendance of 56,214 fans. It still rates as the most–attended UFC event of all-time.
There, Holly Holm dethroned then-champion Ronda Rousey in one of the most shocking UFC title fights in the sport’s history. Whittaker vs. Adesanya is huge, especially because it pits two nearby fan favorites against one another.
But expecting it to reach 55,000 or more fans is a big number. As Dana White likes to say, we’ll see what happens. Let’s just hope this fight happens at all.
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