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MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – OCTOBER 06: Israel Adesanya makes his way to the Octagon for the Middleweight title bout during UFC 243 at Marvel Stadium on October 06, 2019 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)
![](https://image-cdn.essentiallysports.com/wp-content/uploads/20210301213004/GettyImages-1179291350.jpg?width=600)
via Getty
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – OCTOBER 06: Israel Adesanya makes his way to the Octagon for the Middleweight title bout during UFC 243 at Marvel Stadium on October 06, 2019 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)
UFC 271 saw Israel Adesanya defend his title against Robert Whittaker. Even though ‘The Reaper’ took him down a few times, ‘The Last Stylebender’ looked relatively comfortable and won the fight via a unanimous decision. However, Whittaker thought he did enough to win the bout. During the post-fight press conference, the champion addressed this claim.
He said, “I don’t know! I heard he thought he won the fight or some s**t. I don’t know what he and Vettori were sipping on, maybe it was Costa’s wine. But f**king hell, he did not win that fight, he knows it. But yeah, same thing, he needs to go have a shower as well and reflect and realize, that’s not true.”
Israel Adesanya says Robert Whittaker must be sippin' on Paulo Costa's wine if the thinks he won the rematch. 🍷😬#UFC271 | Full video: https://t.co/ZtcojRjAxK pic.twitter.com/HR4risbKCj
— MMA Junkie (@MMAjunkie) February 13, 2022
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“You don’t do enough to win the title, you take the belt. This is not how this works. I did enough, no.”
ALSO READ – Michael Chandler Rips Apart Israel Adesanya After a Lackluster Performance at UFC 271
Whatever one might think of the decision, Adesanya is still the champion and is still undefeated at middleweight. He is, right now, clearly the king of the division, but he soon will have a new challenge. At UFC 271, two potential contenders, Jared Cannonier and Derek Brunson took on each other, and Cannonier came out on top.
After the fight, he got the attention of the UFC head honcho and it looks to have helped him as White confirmed him as the next challenger.
Robert Whittaker thought he did enough to beat Israel Adesanya at UFC 271
Robert Whittaker left everything inside the octagon in his UFC 243 rematch against Israel Adesanya. However, after the dust settled at UFC 271, he came up short on the scorecards and lost via a unanimous decision.
He did manage to secure multiple takedowns and landed some clean shots on the champion. And according to him, he did enough to get the win.
In the post-fight press conference, he said, “Honestly, I thought he looked very beatable. I thought I beat him. I thought I did enough, I got inside his reach, I beat him to every punch, I beat him every time. He didn’t land anything that really hurt me, bar that one shot in the first.”
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Robert Whittaker says he beat Israel Adesanya and a trilogy fight is "inevitable."
"I'm going to stomp anybody that comes in front of me."#UFC271 | Full video: https://t.co/ZtcojRjAxK pic.twitter.com/bds7qZcSKX
— MMA Junkie (@MMAjunkie) February 13, 2022
‘Bobby Knuckles‘ also believes that a third fight between the two is inevitable. He said, “I’m going to stomp anybody that comes in front of me.”
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WATCH THIS STORY – Event Recap: Best Fights From UFC 271: Israel Adesanya vs. Robert Whittaker 2
What did you make of the decision? Was it a lot closer than what the judges scored? Let us know in the comments!