Israel Adesanya is in kind of a no-man’s land. He’s probably praying that Khamzat Chimaev gets the win over Robert Whittaker at UFC 308. The former middleweight champ, of course, failed to win back his title from Dricus Du Plessis on the UFC 305 card last month, submitting to the South African in the fourth round. This has left him with no clear opponent to fight next.

After all, he has fought and defeated most of the top-ten ranked 185-pounders, and the top three guys other than him (Sean Strickland and Robert Whittaker) are in line for their title shots. And Whittaker has a few ideas about who ‘Stylebender’s next opponent should be.

Robert Whittaker doesn’t see Israel Adesanya fighting him next

Robert Whittaker was asked in a recent interview with ‘mainevent’ on YouTube who he thought Adesanya’s next opponent should be. ‘Reaper’, who has fought and lost to ‘Izzy’ twice, seemingly couldn’t care less who the Yoruba fought next, except to clarify it wouldn’t be him.

After all, ‘Reaper’ is set to face Khamzat Chimaev in the co-main event of UFC 308 in late October in a virtual #1 title contender bout. The winner will almost definitely be in line to face the winner of the Dricus Du Plessis vs. Sean Strickland 2, a bout that has already been confirmed by UFC CEO Dana White.

“Who cares [who Israel Adesanya fights next]? I don’t know, like (Caio) Borralho maybe. I think that’s who people are talking about…I don’t know, he [Adesanya] needs to fight someone, yeah, not me. I fought him twice already,” Whittaker said.

The Kiwi former champion, having ruled himself out, did feel#5 ranked middleweight Caio Borralho was the most likely candidate (even if he admitted he didn’t really care who ‘Izzy’ fights next). While Whittaker did not say he would ever face Adesanya again, he did feel the timing just wasn’t right for him to be the Kiwi-Nigerian’s next opponent.

“How would it [work]? Like I’m fighting Chimaev and the winner is going to fight for the title. Like the timelines just don’t work. But you know who knows, I’m in the fight industry, he’s in the fight industry. If we have to run it back three times I will, absolutely,” he added.

Adesanya, of course, likes to remain active. In fact, he is among the most active fighters in the promotion, and not one to wait long before getting back to action. Even the hiatus he went on was no more than a year, and knowing him, he is itching to get a few wins and get back to title contention.

This is why he almost definitely wouldn’t wait until the top-ranked guys are done with their already-scheduled or yet-to-be-scheduled fights, which could take up to six months. That is why, despite them not being very big names, ‘Izzy’ really doesn’t have a choice but to face #4 ranked Nasroudine Imavov or #5 Borralho. At least until the hotch-potch at the top of the division, and may have to wait for two more title fights before there even is a chance for him to fight for the gold.

Middleweight division has an excess of title contenders at the moment

Israel Adesanya, until his shocking loss to Sean Strickland last year (and the one to Alex Pereira before it), seemed set to continue his reign as the middleweight king as he has done for the past half a decade. But now with seemingly nowhere to go, he has to wait for Whittaker to fight Chimaev and Strickland to rematch Du Plessis.

The loser of either fight would be a prime candidate for ‘Izzy’ to face for him to get back into title contention. While Whittaker has said that the winner of his Chimaev clash will fight for the title, that is not a sure thing.

Dana White could very well decide that the winner of Whittaker-Chimaev fights Adesanya in a number one title contender bout since ‘Izzy’, in his five years as champ has been one of the UFC’s biggest cash cows. And Dana White, being the astute businessman he is, would more than likely want ‘Izzy’ at the top again. But that remains to be seen and a few things need to happen before that is even possible. For now, Adesanya needs to win his next fight, whoever it is against. Who do you think should be Israel Adesanya’s next opponent?