UFC 271: All you need to know about Israel Adesanya vs Robert Whittaker II

For the third time in nine months, the Ultimate Fighting Championship heads back to the Toyota Center in Houston, for a big night in the middleweight division.

The Style Bender, Israel Adesanya defends his UFC Middleweight title in a highly anticipated rematch against Robert Whittaker in the headlining match-up, while Jared Cannonier confronts Derek Brunson in a showdown that could determine the next No. 1 contender for the title.

Israel Adesanya (21-1, 10-1 UFC) vs. Robert Whittaker (23-5, 14-3 UFC)

It took all of two and a half years for things to come full circle for Adesanya’s middleweight title reign.

Whittaker vs Adesanya dates back to their first that saw Adesanya complete one of the more stunning rises in UFC history in October of 2019 by defeating the Australian to become Middleweight Champion.

The Style bender went from a debutant to an undisputed champion in less than 20 months without much of an issue.

Israel Adesanya is no doubt a talented kickboxer who only committed full-time to mixed martial arts in 2017.

Upon signing with the UFC, the question of how quickly he could shore up his wrestling to an even higher level was never in doubt.

However, Whittaker’s title loss to Adesanya was a worrying one, both due to the circumstances surrounding the fight and his overall performance in the fight as well.

Heading into the Adesanya fight, Whittaker's vibes weren't exactly great and to be fair it only got worse after the fight itself.

He looked uncharacteristically wild in the early going even though he might have adopted a more aggressive approach towards Adesanya, eventually, he allowed “The Last Style Bender” to find his groove and start tagging him badly on the counter until he found a knockout.

Whittaker’s eventual rebound fight's about nine months later against Darren Till didn't see an improvement as he continued to look similarly overaggressive during his moments of offense in what turned out to be a tedious fight.

However, when the 31-year-old Australian went up against Jared Cannonier and Kelvin Gastelum, Whittaker did a much better job of staying within himself and mixing things up from time to time, just enough to secure wins against them both.

That being said, Cannonier and Gastelum are certainly no Adesanya, so definitely Whittaker comes into this fight needing to put on a decisive career-best performance to get a probably career-defining win if he succeeds.

One would be careless to write off Whittaker just yet as a win for him is also a possibility, but it will likely have to come in form of an ugly and maybe narrow victory because it remains somewhat of a stylistic mismatch for the former champion.

And even though, Adesanya’s worst performances have been against opponents who have given him something to fear, he is a tremendously skilled and gutsy fighter.

He might not cut the most imposing figure, but that's even before considering that Adesanya already knows he can beat and finish “The Reaper” without much issue as he's continued to claim in his pre-match comments.

When it comes to his fighting, Adesanya is in no way reckless.

Hence, he doesn't figure to turn that perceived edge or be overzealous while wanting to use that to his advantage.

Suffice to say that, everything needs to go right (performance-wise) for Whittaker to win on Saturday night, so sticking with the jabs and low kicks with which he found success in the past, in a way that allows him to stay ahead on the scorecards while also not leaving him open defensively is a good strategy and while he is the level of fighter who can certainly put on that level of performance, Adesanya’s ability to read and react to any moments of excessive aggression makes him the obvious favorite come Saturday. 

Adesanya vs Whittaker 2 in UFC 271 is set to air live on a pay-per-view event from Toyota Center in Houston, Texas on Saturday, February 12, which makes it Sunday, February 13 in the UK and Australia.