Former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker sat down with ESPN’s Brett Okamoto ahead of his main event booking. ‘The Reaper’ takes on Kelvin Gastelum, who filled in for Paulo Costa on roughly a months’ notice. Whittaker had plenty of views to share on the landscape of the middleweight division as well as on the current champion.

Robert Whittaker is intimately familiar with champion Israel Adesanya, who was the man to dethrone him. Adesanya recently fought at UFC 259 against Jan Blachowicz for his light heavyweight title and suffered his first loss in MMA. Following the loss, ‘The Last Stylebender’ moved back down to his weight class and awaits his next challenger.

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Robert Whittaker reviews UFC 259’s main event

‘Bobby Knuckles’ laid out his views on how Adesanya wasn’t able to use his usual striking techniques to outmaneuver Blachowicz. The Polish champion turned out to be crafty with his striking defense and was prepared with his wrestling. What’s more, Whittaker went on to predict that Blachowicz would win once more should they ever rematch.

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“I thought Israel would be able to control it more but Jan fought so well. His patient strategy and Polish power was just the real threat and you could see Izzy was having trouble trying to lead to the fight where he wanted it. It was a great fight, very smart fight from Jan you know that’s why he’s the champ.”

“If you asked me this before they fought, I would say Izzy would win more times than not. But after seeing Jan adjust, also being able to handle that striking, being able to handle the shots, being able to make Izzy cautious of his own. I think Jan would have to be the favorite moving forward.”

Israel Adesanya has proven himself to be a consummate winner in all facets of the fight game. Despite the loss, he’ll come back to defend his middleweight championship with a renewed focus and determination. Should Whittaker get past Gastelum, there’s a very good chance that  Adesanya will be re-matching the former champion.