One of this weekend’s biggest fights will see top middleweight contenders Robert Whittaker and Marvin Vettori fighting in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night: Paris, but long-time middleweight champion Israel Adesanya has admitted that it’s not a match-up that excites him in any way.
“I’m excited for the main event. The co-main event, I’m excited for as well—actually, I’m not,” Adesanya said on the Blakamoto & Oscar Show. “I’m not gonna lie. I’m not gonna bullshit you guys and give you the P.C. answers. I’m not actually excited for the co-main event.
“I’ll watch it. Meh. I know who’s gonna win. Rob’s gonna win so that’s why it’s not exciting for me. But, the main event, I don’t know who’s gonna win and I like Gane but I love Tai. That’s my dog.”
“Whittaker is more well rounded,” Adesanya continued. “Also better striking, and I feel like he can grapple with Vettori and make him have problems.”
So, Adesanya appears very confident that Whittaker will mean, but meanwhile former light-heavyweight champion Glover Teixeira appears to be equally confident that ‘The Last Stylebender’ is about to lose his title to Alex ‘Poatan’ Pereira at UFC 281 in November.
“I think Adesanya has no chance against Poatan,” Teixeira, a teammate of Pereira, told Ag Fight this week. “Only if he’s on a bad day, then he may lose a decision. If Adesanya goes after him, though, trying to get payback for that knockout, he’s getting knocked out in the first round.”
