Israel Adesanya, the reigning UFC middleweight champion, has shared his surprising prediction for the upcoming fight between Robert Whittaker and Ikram Aliskerov.
Whittaker (25-7 MMA, 16-5 UFC) is set to face Aliskerov (15-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) in the main event at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Israel Adesanya on Robert Whittaker vs Ikram Aliskerov
Israel Adesanya posted a video on his YouTube channel. Talking about the fight he said: “This is a banger of a fight,”
He added, “Also, this guy (Aliskerov), who did he last beat? Warlley Alves.
It’s a big step up in competition though against Rob. Rob is a former champion, still on the hunt, still dangerous. I’m picking Rob in this fight.”
“I think Robert is going to beat the brakes off this guy from Round 2 onwards. I think Rob gets past Round 1, he starts to put it on this guy, he’s going to feel a different beast. But, who knows? We haven’t seen him against competition like this yet. I just know how good Rob is, so I’m going to go with Rob probably in Round 3 or 4 by TKO.”
Adesanya vs Whittaker
Whittaker, a former champion, has history with Adesanya, having faced him twice in title fights. Aliskerov, on the other hand, stepped in as a late replacement for Khamzat Chimaev on nine days’ notice.
Adesanya himself is gearing up for a middleweight title fight against champion Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 305. It’ll be interesting to see how Whittaker performs against the less experienced but highly rated Dagestani prospect Aliskerov in this highly anticipated matchup.
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