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Robert Whittaker heads into his rematch with Israel Adesanya at UFC 271 ready to do things differently than the first time. The last fight resulted in a second-round TKO loss for the Australian.
Israel Adesanya has only lost one fight since then, a UFC light heavyweight title fight against Jan Blachowicz. The loss came after the Polish fighter went with a heavy wrestling based gameplan.
“I would love to be able to get him on his back and to work on the ground”, UFC middleweight Whittaker told MMA Junkie. “It’s no secret that the greatest advantage anyone would have with ‘Izzy’ is on his back where he can’t use his long arms and long legs to hit you. It’s no secret.”
“Am I going to focus on just that? That’s anybody’s guess because no, I can strike with the best of them, as well, so if an opportunity presents itself – I guess my whole headspace is just utilize the tools and the opportunities that I’m given in this fight, and I think that sums it up pretty well. If I see takedowns, I’ll take them. If I see openings to strike, I’ll take them. Keeping that defense nice and tight. More or less just a little less of what happened in the first fight.”
Robert Whittaker plans on taking many things from the Jan Blachowicz fight. Even though the former UFC champion admits they don't have the same skillset.
“I think Jan set a blueprint on how to beat him. But again, I don’t have the same skillsets and tools Jan does. I don’t have that Polish power, nor that Polish head. You know, like he’s a tough guy, so got to utilize what I have. Definitely we saw that ‘Izzy’ is much less dangerous off his back. Still dangerous, but less dangerous. If I was a strategist, I would be writing down all the points of which Jan utilized to take that win and then putting it in my own.”
Israel Adesanya vs Robert Whittaker is currently set for UFC 271 in February. The rematch is expected to be a very exciting affair.
