UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker are slated to resume their hostilities at UFC 271 next weekend. The first time they faced each other was in 2019. In that duel, Adesanya scored a TKO victory and, with it, took the title from Whittaker.
Both men have had a number of contests since then. Adesanya has stayed perfect at middleweight, defending the title against Yoel Romero, Paulo Costa and Marvin Vettori. He also challenged for the UFC light heavyweight title, but came up short against then-champ Jan Blachowicz.
Since his loss to Adesanya, Whittaker has gone 3-0 with unanimous decisions over Darren Till, Jared Cannonier and Kelvin Gastelum.