Robert Whittaker: Israel Adesanya Showed Heart But Is ‘Hittable’

Whittaker Adesanya at UFC 243

UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker was impressed with Israel Adesanya’s performance against Kelvin Gastelum. But that doesn’t mean he’s any less confident of retaining his title against him.

Adesanya came back from some early adversity to eventually defeat Gastelum via unanimous decision to become the new interim middleweight champion at UFC 236.

It has now set up a massive Australasia clash between two of the best middleweights in the world. Whittaker, who congratulated Adesanya on Twitter after the fight, is happy to face him in August provided that’s enough time for the latter to recover.

“He showed a lot of heart. He got hit a little bit and came back,” Whittaker said (via Newshub). “He was very accurate, with high volume. It was a very impressive win.”

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However, Adesanya’s performance also showed “The Reaper” areas which he could exploit in their title unification fight.

“He’s hittable. I’m better at striking [than Gastelum]. I’m going to punch him and I am very, very good at it, very fast and hit hard and he doesn’t like getting hit.”

Who do you think will win in this Australasian affair?