Robert Whittaker was supposed to get the next middleweight title shot, but has no issue with Israel Adesanya facing Marvin Vettori at UFC 263.
Adesanya will return on June 12 against Vettori, in a fight that was made on relatively short notice. According to Whittaker, however, he was offered the fight first but couldn’t make that quick of a turnaround.
“More or less, I was offered the fight about an hour after my fight with Gastelum. There was just no way, physically, I could do that,” Whittaker said to ESPN. “Not only do I have injuries from that last fight to deal with, I have to fly home to Australia, and then two weeks in [mandatory] isolation. I have to see how my body was feeling, and then I’d have to prepare; all by June. It was impossible.”
Whittaker certainly does have a point that it would be hard for him to prepare given the fact he does have to do a two-week quarantine. He also just had a five-round fight and is banged up.
Whittaker also believes Adesanya wanted the rematch on short notice and when he wasn’t 100 percent, but “The Reaper” has no problem waiting.
“I can see what Izzy is trying to do. He’s trying to get me to accept the fight injured, on short notice, with all odds against me, but there was just no way I could get there physically,” Whittaker said. “I do want that fight, and my next fight will be for the title. It has to be. He was just really adamant about fighting on that date and I can’t do it. I’m happy to fight the winner after.”
Robert Whittaker says he’s excited to watch the fight and says he will face the winner later this year. He thinks it is a very competitive scrap and hopes the two of them beat each other up. The former champ does believe both Adesanya and Vettori have gotten better since their 2018 fight which makes it that much more intriguing.
Who do you think will win, Israel Adesanya or Marvin Vettori?
