Robert Whittaker and Israel Adesanya had some beef heading into their first fight back at UFC 263. Looking back, that may have been what led to Whittaker losing.
That's what the former UFC champion said recently in an interview. Robert Whittaker admits Israel Adesanya got in his head.
“I got in my own head so much and I had so much grudge towards him and gripe that I wore myself out,” Whittaker recalled to Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, via MMA Fighting. “I had so much anger and hate, and I wore myself out. It got tiring being angry at him, and for no real reason. It’s not like he came to my house and stole my TV.”
Robert Whittaker points to the difference in the way he fought at UFC 263. Some figured it was due to Israel Adesanya just being a bad style matchup.
“You can see how of out of the ordinary I fought,” Whittaker explained. “How reckless, if you would, how I fought. I guess that’s the biggest regret I would have in that fight. I wish I fought like myself. I’m not satisfied with that. After the first loss, I had a big chunk of soul-searching and trying to understand myself and my own headspace. That kind of set the foundation for everything else I can do. I get in my own head and try to dissect things to try and make things in my life easier, ever since that first loss.
“I find that if you focus on these little obstacles or why you’re feeling like this, you literally can make it better, and it makes the whole process easier.”
It appears like there's no beef between Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker heading into UFC 271. The Australian just looking at it as a regular fight.
“Honestly, once I let that go, I started seeing him like everybody else. I don’t hate the guy anymore. If anything, I respect his skill sets,” he said.
“I respect him just doing his thing. That’s the thing. While I think his behaviour’s a little [strange] sometimes, he’s staying true to it. He’s still doing it. He’s just him. I guess that’s the long answer — I don’t hate the guy.”
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