Robert Whittaker channels his inner Khabib Nurmagomedov ahead of his title unification bout with Israel Adesanya.
The soft spoken Robert Whittaker has actually called out one of his fellow fighters.
Following Israel Adesanya’s epic win over Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 236, Whittaker, the official middleweight champion, called out ‘The Last Stylebender’ on Instagram.
Not only that but ‘The Reaper’ even paid homage to reigning UFC lightweight champ Khabib Nurmagomedov by using the undefeated Dagestani’s famed catchphrase, ‘send me location.’
“As a great warrior once said… Send Location!! UFC___ #timetounify #battleoftheanzacs#jonjonescanwait,” Whittaker posted on Instagram on Monday.
Whittaker, 28, hasn’t fought since his Fight of the Night epic against Yoel Romero at UFC 225, where the New Zealand-born fighter walked away with the split decision win. The Ultimate Fighter: Smashes winner was scheduled to defend his middleweight title against Gastelum earlier this year at UFC 234 but was forced to pull out of the bout at the last minute due to illness.
Adesanya has criticized Whittaker as being injury prone and not doing his part to promote title fights.
It’s expected that Whittaker will collide with Adesanya later this year, possibly in the summer, although no date or venue has been announced.