UFC 243: Robert Whittaker vs Israel Adesanya- Key Factors in the Fight

Robert Whittaker vs Israel Adesanya is arguably the biggest fight in the history of UFC middleweight division. It is a clash at the highest level. Two of the greatest fighters in UFC at the moment. On one hand, we have UFC champion, Robert Whittaker who will be making his much-awaited return to the UFC octagon. His opponent, Israel Adesanya, a superstar in the making, will be fighting for his first undisputed UFC title. He will step into the octagon with not only the interim middleweight title but also hopes of millions of Nigerian fans all around the globe.

Robert Whittaker is the best middleweight at UFC right now when you consider skillsets, accomplishments, and versatility in the fight game. His wars against Yoel Romero have proven one thing for sure that Whittaker will out tough any fighter if he has to defend his title. On the other hand, we have Israel Adesanya who is one of the most complete striker UFC has ever seen. Although he depends on hi striking a lot to get the job done, we do not know how good he is in other aspects of the game. However, looking at all his previous fights in UFC it’s safe to say that his ground game is no joke either. Adesanya might not be able to submit you, but he is going to get bullied on the ground either.

With all the flying pieces around this super fight let’s have a look at all the key factors that might play significant parts in the result of this super fight.

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Robert Whittaker vs Israel Adesanya:

Robert Whittaker:

One can argue that Nate Diaz made his UFC return after 3 years of inactivity and won the fight against Anthony Pettis pretty easily. Well, that is true. However, whether the inactivity will affect Whittaker’s performance can not be said until we watch him fight.

Agree, he has been pretty active during the time off and he even qualified for the Common Wealth Games to represent his country. Still competing against someone like Adesanya inside the octagon is a whole another game.

Wrestling:

Now Whittaker likes to keep the fight on the feet. However, during the time off from UFC Whittaker became so good at wrestling that he qualified for the Common Wealth. Now it can not be assumed that Adesanya can not defend the takedowns or can not get back up if taken down. We have seen him do all that against Kelvin Gastelum who is regarded as a great wrestler.

However, Whittaker is bigger and stronger than Gastelum. If he takes down Adesanya and implements his vicious ground and pound it’s going to be a tough night for the Nigerian champion.

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10 rounds against Yoel Romero. In the first fight, Romero destroyed Whittaker’s knee. Even Whittaker said post-fight that a couple of more good shots and his knee would have given up. Again in the rematch, Whittaker broke his right hand. The misfortune for the Aussi champ does not stop there as he faced a life-threatening Hernia injury before his fight with Kelvin Gastelum.

These injuries must have taken some toll on the middleweight champion and that might play a factor in his fight against Adesanya. However, Whittaker has said that he feels better than ever before.

Israel Adesanya:

Israel Adesanya has fought three times since Whittaker’s last fight rematch Romero. He is unbeaten in UFC and has been very active in his run so far. And that has to be a factor going into this fight against Whittaker. He also has some impressive wins in his past few fights such as wins over Gastelum, Silva, and Brunson.

However, it’s hard to predict to what extent the busy schedule will help the interim champion in his fight against Whittaker.

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Robert Whittaker has not faced any fighter who is similar to Israel Adesanya. Fans and even Adesanya’s father have brought up the argument that Whittaker lost against Stephen Thompson who is a great striker himself. However, Thompson and Adesanya are very different. The feints that Adesanya uses in his fights separates him from all of the strikers in UFC.

Adesanya did the same to Anderson Silva what Silva used to do to his opponents back in the day. Anderson Silva who has had a lot of success in counter striking in his career became the aggressor while Adesanya picked him apart with his strikes. Adesanya is an intelligent striker and he may pick Whittaker apart in the later rounds as he did to Gastelum.

This has to be the most intriguing and competitive fight of this year so far. Both Adesanya and Whittaker are in their prime and the stage could not have been bigger for this super fight. Irrespective of the result, Robert Whittaker vs Israel Adesanya is going to be one of the classics.