Israel Adesanya more focussed on beating Whittaker than winning the belt

The current UFC interim middleweight champion Israel Adesanya is more eager and focused on beating the UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker than he is to win the undisputed UFC belt.

Adesanya told MMA Junkie in a recent interview that for him the real ‘gold’ will be to beat Whittaker because he is a warrior than to even win the true UFC middleweight belt. Here’s what he had to say:

Look, (expletive) the belt. For me, the real gold is beating him because he’s a warrior, he’s got that Maori blood in him. He’s not the first Maori I fought, trust me. So Sunday, Oct. 6, if you don’t have your tickets, don’t steal, don’t do anything crazy. Just make sure you get your tickets because trust me, we’re going to blow that place up. If you’ve been following me for a long time, everything I’ve done, I’ve been calling it, And even at UFC 193, right here, back when it was Etihad Stadium, I remember walking the streets and tweeting, ‘If you see Dana, just mention me, drop my name,’ and now here we are. I’m about to headline the whole place and shock the world again.