UFC 271: Whittaker seeking revenge after Adesanya embarrassed him at home in front of 57,000 people

The Toyota Centre in Houston is the venue set to host a much-anticipated middleweight bout between divisional champion, Israel Adesanya and the challenger Robert Whittaker.

The bout is a rematch of the first fight in 2019 which Israel Adesanya won via a second-round knockout to emerge as the undisputed champion of the middleweight class, a title Adesanya holds to this day after successfully defending it three times.

The fourth defence of that belt will now come against the man from whom he won it in the first place, so let us take a trip down memory lane and reminisce on that spectacular fight.

UFC 243 was the event at the Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Australia which was Robert Whittaker’s home, an honour which was given to him as the champion at the time.

Adesanya grew up in New Zealand and openly flaunts his connection to that country, which did not endear him to the 57,000+ fans in the stadium who were predominantly supporters of Whittaker.

Perhaps the most annoying thing about Adesanya on the night for the home fans was his absurd confidence. It would later be justified by his performance but, at the time, it made him look obnoxious.

Adesanya came into what the biggest fight of his young UFC career at the time dancing in what was an already hostile environment. Rather than just walk out to whatever music of his choice, the Nigerian-New Zealander came out with three professional dancers and performed a well-choreographed routine. This suggested he had spent a lot of time learning instead of preparing for this huge fight.

The dance was so good that some parts of the arena actually cheered while others continued to jeer, but it was such a risky move that only made sense if you were certain of victory and it seemed Adesanya was.

As soon as the actual fight began, Whittaker’s every move was met with cheers which spurred him on early on. However, it did not take too long for Adesanya to establish who the better fighter was.

He constantly used Whittaker’s momentum against him, punishing every offensive move by the Australian with a series of sharp counterstrikes which shook the confidence of Whittaker and his home fans.

By the end of the first round, Adesanya was clearly in the lead with multiple head strikes landed including two round-house kicks and a vicious counter-punch which put Whittaker on his back and could have ended the fight right there were it not for the horn.

Israel did end the fight in the second round though and under similar circumstances as well, flattening Whittaker with another of those deadly counter strikes. This time there was no horn to save him: Adesanya pounced with multiple head strikes, prompting referee Mark Goddard to end the fight.

Whittaker not only lost the fight, but he also lost his UFC middleweight crown and his pride and dignity in his own backyard.

The man who was referred to as the “Grim Reaper” for most of his career before that fight was thoroughly dominated, embarrassed, bloodied and stripped of his belt by a scrawny Nigerian who danced before the fight.

Needless to say, Whittaker's reputation suffered severe damage after that fight, and the only real way to correct that would be to get his pound of flesh by beating Adesanya at UFC 271 on Sunday.