{"id":16090,"date":"2022-02-13T14:25:20","date_gmt":"2022-02-13T14:25:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/israel-adesanya-eager-for-saturday-night-ufc-rematch-with-whittaker"},"modified":"2022-02-13T15:30:10","modified_gmt":"2022-02-13T15:30:10","slug":"israel-adesanya-eager-for-saturday-night-ufc-rematch-with-whittaker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/israel-adesanya-eager-for-saturday-night-ufc-rematch-with-whittaker","title":{"rendered":"Israel Adesanya eager for Saturday night UFC rematch with Whittaker"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zambia. <\/strong><\/span>UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya was raring to go against Robert Whittaker in a rematch slated for Saturday at the UFC 271 in Houston, Texas. Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, Adesanya acknowledged Whittaker’s improvement since he beat him in UFC 243 back in 2019.<\/p>\n

“He’s young, he’s actually younger than me. I know I look fresh, but he’s younger than me. So he’s made a lot of improvements in his game. But you guys have to understand from tough nationals to being the UFC middleweight champion, this guy did a lot of work and he ran through everyone till he ran into me and then I stopped that shit. But the last three fights, he has done what he’s always done. “<\/b><\/p>\n

“He’s improved, but he’s always been a beast,” Adesanya said. “But I’m a different beast with the same animal. “<\/b><\/p>\n

Adesanya (21-1 MMA, 10-1 UFC) and Whittaker (23-5 MMA, 14-3 UFC) enter the rematch at the Toyota Center in Houston with something to prove in what\u2019s arguably the most competitive title-fight pairing that can be made on paper at 185 pounds.<\/p>\n

The same distinction was made when they met for the first time at UFC 243 in October 2019, but reality played out much differently, as it was an entirely one-sided affair.<\/p>\n

The co-main event is a heavyweight showdown between Derrick Lewis and contender Tai Tuivasa. Lewis holds the record for most knockout wins in UFC history with 13.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Zambia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zambia. UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya was raring to go against Robert Whittaker in a rematch slated for Saturday at the UFC 271 in Houston, Texas. Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, Adesanya acknowledged Whittaker’s improvement since he beat him in UFC 243 back in 2019. “He’s young, he’s actually younger than […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":16089,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,17,16],"tags":[234,235,4591,4590,4540,4545,233],"class_list":["post-16090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-sport","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-zambia","tag-competition","tag-fight","tag-fighting","tag-ufc-sports","tag-zambia"],"yoast_head":"\nIsrael Adesanya eager for Saturday night UFC rematch with Whittaker - Zambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya was raring to go against Robert Whittaker in a rematch slated for Saturday at ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/israel-adesanya-eager-for-saturday-night-ufc-rematch-with-whittaker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Israel Adesanya eager for Saturday night UFC rematch with Whittaker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya was raring to go against Robert Whittaker in a rematch slated for Saturday at ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/israel-adesanya-eager-for-saturday-night-ufc-rematch-with-whittaker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Zambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-02-13T14:25:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-02-13T15:30:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2022\/02\/img-620923dba94bd.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"538\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/israel-adesanya-eager-for-saturday-night-ufc-rematch-with-whittaker#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/israel-adesanya-eager-for-saturday-night-ufc-rematch-with-whittaker\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Israel Adesanya eager for Saturday night UFC rematch with Whittaker\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-13T14:25:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-13T15:30:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/israel-adesanya-eager-for-saturday-night-ufc-rematch-with-whittaker\"},\"wordCount\":266,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/israel-adesanya-eager-for-saturday-night-ufc-rematch-with-whittaker#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2022\/02\/img-620923dba94bd.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Zambia\",\"competition\",\"fight\",\"Fighting\",\"UFC Sports\",\"Zambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"sport\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/israel-adesanya-eager-for-saturday-night-ufc-rematch-with-whittaker#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/israel-adesanya-eager-for-saturday-night-ufc-rematch-with-whittaker\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/israel-adesanya-eager-for-saturday-night-ufc-rematch-with-whittaker\",\"name\":\"Israel Adesanya eager for Saturday night UFC rematch with Whittaker - 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