Israel Adesanya believes Robert Whittaker goes to come back out of UFC Saudi Arabia victorious towards his last-minute alternative opponent Ikram Aliskerov.
Whittaker was initially set to struggle Khamzat Chimaev earlier than an undisclosed sickness knocked “Borz” off the cardboard. In steps Aliskerov, who’s being pushed as an equally nasty problem. And hey, the man is 15-1 and has completed each his UFC fights by way of first spherical knockout. However he’s by no means confronted anybody on the extent of “The Reaper,” and that makes the distinction to Adesanya.
“It is a banger of a struggle,” Izzy stated in a breakdown of the June twenty second card. “It’s a giant step up in competitors although [for Aliskerov]. Rob is a former champion, nonetheless on the hunt, nonetheless harmful. I’m selecting Rob on this struggle.”
“I feel Robert goes to beat the brakes off this man from spherical two onward. I feel Rob will get previous spherical one and begins to place it on this man, and he’s going to really feel a distinct beast. However who is aware of? We haven’t seen [Aliskerov] towards competitors like this but. I simply know the way good Rob is so I’m gonna go Rob, most likely in three or 4 [rounds] by TKO.”
Aliskerov’s sole defeat got here towards Khamzat Chimaev again in 2019. Apparently sufficient, Ikram is the one opponent Khamzat wasn’t in a position to take down.
“What a superb wrestler,” Adesanya stated of the Dagestani fighter. “Do you assume we’ll nonetheless get a superb preview of what the [Khamzat] struggle might have seemed like? We’ll discover out. Rob was able to wrestle this struggle anyway, so the remaining is gonna be f—ing high tier on this struggle, I feel … But in addition this man [Aliskerov], who’d he final beat? Warlley Alves. Massive step up in competitors towards Rob.”
UFC Struggle Evening: Whittaker vs. Aliskerov kicks off at 12PM ET on Saturday June twenty second direct from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Along with Whittaker vs. Aliskerov, the principle card options Sergei Pavlovich vs. Alexander Volkov, Kelvin Gasteulum vs. Daniel Rodriguez, Johnny Walker vs. Volkan Oezdemir, and the at all times thrilling Shara “Bullet” Magomedov.
As for Israel Adesanya, his longer-than-usual break between fights is coming to an finish. “The Final Stylebender” introduced he’d be returning at UFC 305 in Perth, Australia towards present middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis.
