There’s certainly no love lost between Robert Whittaker and Israel Adesanya, but ‘The Reaper’ can no longer deny ‘The Last Stylebender’s’ talent following UFC 256, which saw Adesanya TKO Paulo Costa in the second round of the main event to retain his middleweight title.
Whittaker, too, suffered a second round stoppage loss to Adesanya at UFC 243 and, while he might not like the reigning middleweight champ, admits he’s ‘bloody good’ and worthy of the UFC middleweight title.
“Did I expect him to finish him in that fashion? No, I did not,” Whittaker told ESPN in a recent interview (h/t Abhinav Kini of The Body Lock MMA).