Robert Whittaker may be next in line for a UFC middleweight title bout, but it could be awhile before he gets a second shot at Israel Adesanya.
UFC President Dana White recently stated that Whittaker didn’t want to fight Adesanya, but Whittaker says that isn’t true while also showing dismay for the alleged political games played by the UFC.
“That fight was never offered to me,” Whittaker said on What the Heck (via Alexander K. Lee of MMA Fighting). “There wasn’t even talks up in the air. There was no correspondence at all and I guess that’s the most confusing factor and the most annoying part about the whole mess. There was no discussion. There was no communication. There was no dialogue. That’s annoying. He twisted my words around. I think because he had his own designs and the UFC—When I say ‘he’ I mean him and the UFC as an organization, I understand that Dana White doesn’t personally want to do things. Or maybe he does, who knows?—but I think they wanted [Adesanya vs. Blachowicz]. That’s a money fight for them. That’s a fight they wanted to push and that’s the only reason I can see that.”
Adesanya will move onto fighting UFC light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz in 2021, while Whittaker’s fate is unknown at the moment.
Whittaker also says that a shot at the middleweight title is his right.
“The only fight that makes sense for me, and I was very verbal and open about it, is that I want to fight Adesanya,” Whittaker said. “It’s the only fight I want, I just don’t want it around Christmas. That was the biggest thing for me after the fight in the conferences and the media was just getting my timeline out there, understanding and letting people know that yes, I want this fight, this fight is the only fight that makes sense to me. It’s the fight that I earnt. The title fight is my right after beating Jared because that’s the type of fight it was is a contender fight. That’s the fight I earned. But I have to be there for my family and my kids and the newest member that’s going to be joining my family in January. That’s my highest priority right now is getting my timeline out there and then work around that.”
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