UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya appears to have his next challenger all lined up. And it’s someone he’s very familiar with. According to TSN’s Aaron Bronsteter the UFC are expected to announce Adesanya vs. Robert Whittaker 2 for UFC 271, which takes place on February 12, 2022.
Clarification: An error was made when Dana relayed this to me in our interview. Seattle and Canada are being looked at for an event in 2022, but not UFC 271.
— Aaron Br nsteter (@aaronbronsteter) October 25, 2021
Adesanya defeated Whittaker by KO in 2019 to claim the 185 lbs title. Since then he has looked unstoppable in that division with decisive wins over Yoel Romero, Paulo Costa and—most recently—Marvin Vettori.
The only blemish on ‘The Last Stylebender’’s record since then is a unanimous decision loss to Jan Blachowicz at UFC 259 in March, when Adesanya jumped up a division to challenge for the Pole’s light heavyweight title.
That loss to Blachowicz is Adesanya’s only loss in his 22-fight MMA career.
Since losing the title to Adesanya, Whittaker has gone 3-0 with unanimous decisions over Darren Till, Jared Cannonier and Kelvin Gastelum.
He became champion after defeating Yoel Romero for the interim belt in 2017. That title was converted to the undisputed title after it was confirmed that Georges St-Pierre would vacate the belt he won against Michael Bisping the year prior.
Before losing to Adesanya, Whittaker was on a nine-fight winning streak which included victories over Uriah Hall, Derek Brunson and Ronaldo Souza.
UFC 271 is also expected to feature Alexander Hernandez vs. Renato Moicano and Kyler Phillips vs. Marcelo Rojo.
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