Whittaker on Adesanya: 'If Gastelum can touch him, so can I'

R. Whittaker (left) and I. Adesanya (right) pose with belts. Photo: Reproduction/YouTube TheMacLife

The middleweight belt (up to 83,9kg) is close to having a single owner. This Saturday (5), the linear champion, Robert whittaker, and the owner of the interim belt, Israel adesanya, they will exchange forces in the UFC 243 in a fight that will represent the unification of the category title. To be able to circumvent the Nigerian's unquestionable skills, Whittaker is betting on the flaws shown by his rival in his last duel, when he fought hard against Kelvin Gastelum, in April. The statement was made in an interview with ‘BJPenn.com’.

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“I’m a lot faster than (Kelvin) Gastelum, taller than Gastelum and I have longer arms than Gastelum. If Gastelum was able to touch him (Adesanya), I can too,” said Robert.

Israel, in a recent interview, stated that he thought that Whittaker's team would use their last fight to exploit their flaws, as the Nigerian, despite having won the match, was touched several times by his opponent. Following the words of the linear champion, Robert will, in fact, follow Kelvin's strategy recipe to try to surprise Adesanya for the first time in his career.

“Adesanya is a big guy, long arms, and he fights and trains a lot at that. I don't underestimate it. But what I took away from the fight was that Gastelum was able to close that gap and fire attacks to the chin,” said Whittaker.

With the strategy basically outlined, Robert is left to exude confidence in the triumph and unification of the belt. If the athlete manages to defeat Israel, the Australian will not only be able to put an end to his rival's unbeaten run, but also increase his number of consecutive victories to 10.

“I definitely believe this is a fight I can finish and I have 25 minutes to do it. That's all I'm going to do. I will be able to close the gap. I'm faster, I'm going to hit him hard and I'm not going to run away”, he concluded.

The fight against the Nigerian will also mark an important date for Whittaker. This Saturday, the athlete will return to the Octagon after more than a year away from fighting due to repeated injuries. The last time Robert acted was in the duel against Yoel romero, in June 2018, at UFC 225.