Robert Whittaker has revealed in an interview with ESPN that he turned down a rematch with Israel Adesanya at UFC 263 because he needed more time to recover following his unanimous decision win over Kelvin Gastelum at UFC Vegas 24.
The UFC wanted to book the fight for June 12, but ‘The Reaper’ said it would have been ‘impossible’ for him to accept the matchup on such short notice.
Marvin Vettori will go on to challenge Adesanya for the middleweight instead, and Whittaker has no problem with the UFC’s decision.
“More or less, I was offered the fight about an hour after my fight with Gastelum.