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Kiwi middleweight champion Israel Adesanya has no interest in a rematch with Robert Whittaker and will instead jump one weight class for his next fight, claims head coach Eugene Bareman.
After his gutting Paulo Costa at UFC 253 last month, Adesanya called in Jared Cannonier as his next challenger, confident that the American would do an easy job with Whittaker at UFC 254.
But the New Zealand-born Australian scored a comfortable decision win on ‘Fight Island’ to cement his status as the No. 1 contender, ruining Adesanya’s showdown with Cannonier.
City Kickboxing sensei Bareman says Adesanya has no desire to face Whittaker again, after convincingly beating him for the title last October, and the result now accelerates his plans to face newly crowned light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz. .
“One good thing about Robert Whittaker’s win is that it sets in motion what we wanted to do anyway,” Bareman tells Newshub.
“Israel has made it pretty clear to me, if Cannonier doesn’t win, there’s no one else that interests him and certainly the way Whittaker fought last time, he doesn’t care in the same way that a Cannonier fight would have. .
“So he wants to go up to 205 [lb division] and see what you can do there. “
Becoming a double division champion would put Adesanya in a rarefied air. Only four fighters have accomplished the feat and all are considered among the sport’s greats: Dan Cormier, Conor McGregor, Henry Cejudo and Amanda Nunes.
