It seems that former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker’s visit to City Kickboxing might not have been a one-off.
Fans witnessed a good sight this week when Israel Adesanya took to Instagram to reveal he’d been training with Whittaker at the Nigerian-New Zealander’s gym in Auckland.
The pair haven’t always seen eye to eye and were regarded as rivals owing to their two showdowns inside the Octagon, both of which were won by “The Last Stylebender.”
But with the possibility of a trilogy appearing slim following recent results, the pair have put any and all animosity behind them and linked up within the walls of New Zealand’s renowned gym.
And the catalyst for that was evidently Whittaker, who explained to The New Zealand Herald the decision to expand his training horizons in the new year in order to evolve as a fighter.
“We came to the conclusion we needed more bodies, we wanted to experience new training styles, and we started looking at our options,” Whittaker said. “We were looking all over the world; definitely, there’s training out there in the States…but (like) a flash of lightning, (I thought), ‘CKB’s just across the lake – it’s practically home – why don’t we contact them, head over, meet the boys, see if it works, then maybe we can work something out and try form a good relationship.’
“There is no way I thought we’d be here breaking bread, you know? But here we are, the world’s a funny place,” Whittaker remarked about training with Adesanya. “I’m happy for it because, just being open to ideas, to broadening horizons, I’ve met some new boys, I’m getting some new work out of it, and it just keeps things fun; keeps things interesting.”
Work with an elite name like Whittaker could come in handy for Adesanya, who is just weeks out from his first assignment of 2025.
After bringing his year-long break from the sport to an end with an unsuccessful title challenge against Dricus Du Plessis last August, “The Last Stylebender” will return to non-title and non-PPV competition when he headlines UFC Saudi Arabia against Nassourdine Imavov on February 1.
“The Reaper,” meanwhile, is without a date for his next outing in the calendar. He most recently fell to a brutal first-round submission at the hands of Khamzat Chimaev three months ago.
Flyweight standout Manel Kape didn’t let Charlie Radtke have all the fun on Saturday night. ‘Starboy’ stepped into the Octagon as part of the promotion’s stacked UFC 293 main card inside the Qudos Bank Arena with late-notice replacement opponent Felipe dos Santos. Despite having two weight cuts in a relatively short period of time, dos […]