Israel Adesanya is a rising star in the sport of MMA and currently holds the interim Middleweight title. On October 6th, Adesanya will get to battle Robert Whittaker for the official middleweight title and fans are understandably excited. Adesanya is known as a great trash talker and despite the fight being three months away, he isn't letting up. On Friday, the two took part in a staredown to promote the fight and yesterday, Adesanya had some harsh words for the Australian fighter.
"At the staredown, he just reminded me of like a meth head,” Adesanya said via MMA Junkie. “When you look into someone’s eyes and you’re just like, yeah, and I’m looking at him like OK, cool. He’s a guy, he’s been here, he’s tough, he’s a vet in this game, so I don’t have to try and get under his skin. He’s not under my skin, and he says he doesn’t think about me, and I don’t want him to. I don’t expect him to. My coaches think about him a lot, though, and we’re going to devise a beautiful strategy to take him off.”
Whittaker was supposed to fight Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 234 but had to have surgery the day of the fight. Adesanya eventually beat Gastelum which was the catalyst for October's big bout. In a recent interview, Whittaker said he's feeling "better than ever" and is ready to beat Adesanya once and for all.