Preview: UFC 271 ‘Adesanya vs. Whittaker 2’

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The Ultimate Fighting Championship on Saturday heads back to the Toyota Center in Houston for the third time in nine months and does so with a strong card in tow. It looks like a big night for the middleweight division, as two of the top three pairings could result in a winner-versus-winner scenario for the next championship fight. Israel Adesanya defends his 185-pound title in a highly anticipated rematch against Robert Whittaker in the headliner, while Jared Cannonier confronts Derek Brunson in a showdown that could determine the next No. 1 contender. Given that the event takes place in Space City, it should not shock anyone to see Derrick Lewis in the heavyweight co-feature opposite Tai Tuivasa. The two appetizers also figure to provide some excitement, particularly the Bobby Green-Nasrat Haqparast clash at 155 pounds.

Now to the preview for the UFC 271 main card:

UFC Middleweight Championship

C | Israel Adesanya (21-1, 10-1 UFC) vs. #1 MW | Robert Whittaker (23-5, 14-3 UFC)

ODDS: Adesanya (-280), Whittaker (+225)

It took all of two and a half years for things to come full circle for Adesanya’s middleweight title reign. Adesanya completed one of the more stunning rises in UFC history in October 2019, going from debut to undisputed champion in less than 20 months without much of an issue. A talented kickboxer who only pivoted full-time to mixed martial arts in 2017, Adesanya was an obvious talent in his second sport from the jump. Upon signing with the UFC, the only question was how quickly he could shore up his wrestling and hang at a high level. As it turns out, it took all of a few months. His debut against Rob Wilkinson saw him get controlled but storm back for a finish; Marvin Vettori did not find much success until late in their first encounter; and by UFC fight No. 3—just five months after that debut—Adesanya was putting on a clinic in a one-sided main event win over Brad Tavares. From there, the next few fights just saw Adesanya overcome some minor issues. He made Brunson look like Wilkinson after the North Carolinian had enjoyed some early control, and any hurdles Adesanya had against Anderson Silva were mental rather than physical in nature. Then came a bit of a breakout against Kelvin Gastelum for an interim title. Gastelum had some success in the most consistent performance of his career, but Adesanya constantly fought back through trouble and proved himself as an elite mixed martial artist—and as Whittaker’s top contender. That title unification bout in Melbourne, Australia, was a landmark moment for Oceanic MMA, and Adesanya left no doubt as to who the better man was that night, staying cool through Whittaker’s often wild pressure and eventually ending the fight with a second-round knockout. Adesanya has since continued to reign as the undisputed king at 185 pounds, though his championship run has been a bit weird. Adesanya’s first order of business was to call out Yoel Romero, and after hand-picking his opponent, “The Last Stylebender” put on what many viewed as an extremely poor performance. The leadup made it seem like Adesanya had cracked the code for Romero’s low-output but extremely dangerous style. Instead, the champion seemed cowed in a slow-paced fight that he was actually quite lucky to win. Then came a psychosexual build to his fight with Paulo Costa that saw the Brazilian put forth a poor effort of his own and lose handily. The win led Adesanya to surprisingly challenge Jan Blachowicz up a division for the light heavyweight title—another fight in which the City Kickboxing star seemed worried against a much larger and powerful opponent. This time, he lost the decision. With that said, Adesanya still has few—if any—peers at middleweight, which his last title defense showed. In a rematch against Vettori, he had little issue winning a dominant fight against the Italian’s steady but often one-dimensional pressure. Now, it is on to a rematch against Whittaker, and this time, it is the former champion who has something to prove.



Whittaker’s title loss to Adesanya was a worrying one, both due to the circumstances surrounding the fight and his performance in it. The welterweight winner of the one-off “The Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes” season in 2012, Whittaker had a middling run at 170 pounds before moving up to middleweight, at which point he was a revelation. With a speed and cardio advantage, Whittaker’s boxing began to pop and made him both a knockout artist and a general power threat. From there, it was a relatively clean rise through the ranks. Whittaker got to show off his wrestling chops against Ronaldo Souza to affirm himself as a top contender and won an interim title fight against Romero just three months later in an absolute war. Whittaker would eventually be named the undisputed middleweight champion after the second retirement of Georges St. Pierre, but any attempts for “The Reaper” to return home to Australia as a conquering hero seemed absolutely cursed. First came a slated 2018 title defense against Luke Rockhold in Perth—a bout that was eventually scrapped due to Whittaker suffering a severe staph infection in his stomach. Whittaker did successfully make a comeback, winning a rematch with Romero stateside in another brutal fight, so the UFC booked him for a title defense against Gastelum early in 2019, this time in Melbourne. Once again, Whittaker’s body betrayed him, as an abdominal hernia and collapsed bowel required emergency surgery just hours before the fight. Heading into the Adesanya fight, the vibes for Whittaker were not exactly great and were made only worse after the fight itself. It is understandable that Whittaker would try and adapt a more aggressive style to replicate the success Gastelum enjoyed against Adesanya, but he looked uncharacteristically wild in the early going, allowing “The Last Stylebender” to find his groove and start tagging him badly on the counter until he found a knockout. Whittaker’s eventual rebound fight about nine months later against Darren Till did not portend the best things. Whittaker still looked similarly overaggressive during his moments of offense in what turned out to be a tedious fight. However, against Cannonier and Gastelum, Whittaker did a much better job of staying within himself and mixing things up, enough so that this rematch is now much more interesting. With that said, those two men are not Adesanya, so Whittaker comes into this fight needing to put on a career-best performance to get a career-defining win.

Whittaker can win this, but it will likely have to come in an ugly, narrow victory, because it remains a terrible stylistic matchup for the former champion. As mentioned, Adesanya’s worst performances have been against opponents who have given him something to fear. Silva seemed to do so solely through his legendary reputation, while Romero and Blachowicz provided sheer physical size. That puts Whittaker in a difficult spot. While he is a tremendously skilled and gutsy fighter, he is a former welterweight who does not cut the most imposing figure. That is even before considering that Adesanya already knows he can beat and finish “The Reaper” without much issue. Adesanya is not reckless, so he does not figure to turn that perceived edge into any sort of overzealousness. As a result, it is up to Whittaker to stick to the best parts of his first fight against Adesanya—the jabs and low kicks with which he found a smattering of success—in a way that allows him to stay ahead on the scorecards while also not leaving him open defensively. It is a tedious needle to thread. Envisioning a Whittaker win, it will have to be a much more neutralizing affair than usual that essentially does not give Adesanya much with which to work and turns things it into enough of a coinflip that the challenger can regain his title on the scorecards. Essentially, everything needs to go right for a Whittaker win, and while he is the level of fighter who can certainly put on that level of a performance, Adesanya’s ability to read and react to any moments of excessive aggression makes him what has to be the obvious favorite. It is a credit to Whittaker that he has made this rematch intriguing, but the pick is Adesanya via clear decision.

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