A title unification bout with UFC Middleweight Champion Robert Whittaker is up next for Adesanya and UFC President Dana White would like that fight to happen in Australia.
“We were going to do that fight here; I wanted that fight in the U.S.,” White said after the event (via Mike Bohn & Ken Hathaway of MMA Junkie). “We’re definitely not doing that fight in the U.S. That fight is going to Australia. It will be massive in Australia. I put my guys on that. That’s their homework for this week. A stadium, not an arena, A stadium in Australia.”
Whittaker was supposed to defend the middleweight title against Gastelum in Australia at UFC 234, but Whittaker pulled out of the fight due to a severe abdominal issue that required surgery.
Adesanya’s viewpoint differs from White’s because the interim middleweight champion wants the unification bout to happen in New Zealand.
“It could be in Australia, but Auckland I think is a viable option, as well,” Adesanya said. “We can push back and forth, because he is a born Kiwi but he’s a Maussie. He’s representing Australia. When I’ll be ready again? He says August. I say let me go shower first. I want to be able to just close my mouth properly first, and then we’ll see.”
If the bout were to happen in August like Adesanya said, it would mean that the title unification bout would take place at UFC 240.
