Israel Adesanya and his misadventure to capture the Light Heavyweight Championship will be remembered for a long time. It proved that every double-champ dream cannot be successful and there is a reason why size matters in fights. Adesanya was out-pointed and out-wrestled by Jan Blachowicz in their meeting last month.

That has given the gameplan to beat Izzy to many fighters, including a former opponent. Adesanya became the King of the Middleweights when he toppled Robert Whittaker at UFC 243. However, ‘Bobby Knuckles’ looks to secure a rematch with a win over Kelvin Gastelum in April. But he had some comments about Izzy’s struggles against Blachowicz.

“I thought it was a good fight. I thought Jan fought really well. The gameplan was quite well put together with Jan. I thought it was a close fight, but Jan certainly did enough to win that fight and control it.”

Whittaker added when asked if he learned anything from the fight. “There’s a couple of things. It doesn’t add any confidence, it’s a hard fight. Every fight is different when you get different opponents and different matchups. But he can be beaten.”

Israel Adesanya: Is he going to be fallible back at 185?

Israel Adesanya will have to make a statement to earn the respect of people doubting him. Let’s not forget that Adesanya has torn through the Middleweight division and is close to clearing the division out. This includes having beaten Whittaker in a one-sided bout in 2019 to become champion.

However, Whittaker may be right in this situation regardless. The mentality of a fighter can be shaken with losses like that. While Adesanya wasn’t viciously knocked out, he did taste defeat for the first time in his UFC career. But most fighters lose at some point. The legends are also remembered for how they came back from losses.

READ MORE: Jan Blachowicz Reveals What Went Wrong For Israel Adesanya at UFC 259

Whittaker should already be a #1 contender, but Adesanya’s unwillingness to rematch him has led him to try and make his case iron-clad. He was going to face the last challenger for the belt in Paulo Costa, but that fell apart. Kelvin Gastelum is his new opponent, and Adesanya will be watching.