There’s no certainty if a rematch between Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight king Israel Adesanya and former division champion Robert Whittaker is up next for both, but one thing that is certain is “Reaper” hates his rival as fervently as ever.
During an appearance on The Howie Games, Whittaker was asked about his UFC 243 loss to Adesanya, which ended his two-year run as middleweight champion. Understandably, the knockout loss is one that still stings for the Australian. Especially, since he still holds a great deal of animosity towards his rival from New Zealand.
Robert Whittaker calls Israel Adesanya a ‘sh*thead’
Let’s not talk too much about Israel because I think he’s a piece of sh*t, Whittaker said to host Mark Howard. He’s just a sh*t person. Ah, a piece of sh*t is too rough. Too harsh. He’s a sh*thead. There, that sounds better. He’s a sh*thead. I don’t like him, he doesn’t like me. Two cats from two different paths that don’t get along.
Rarely will do you see fighters admit that an opponent was able to score real estate in their head. However, Whittaker, 30, was candid during the conversation when he revealed that his dislike for Adesanya was strong, that it affected him in the fight. Saying he fought “emotional” and lost his “cool” trying to hand the Nigerian-born middleweight his first L in the UFC.
The last fight I was kind of very emotional, said Whittaker. I was in a bad place for the sport itself, for my career. I got a bit emotional in that fight because I don’t like him very much and on top of everything else that was going on, lost my cool. I wasn’t really fighting like I should fight. Like I normally fight. Props to him, he got in my head. I just think he’s a sh*thead.
Whittaker last competed in an impressive five-round unanimous decision win over Kelvin Gastelum in April. Since losing to “The Last Stylebender” in 2019, he has won three straight over top 10 competition in Gastelum, Jared Cannonier, and Darren Till. Whittaker and Adesanya have no opponents booked for their next Octagon outings.
