Robert Whittaker Feels Israel Adesanya Isn’t As Good As He Thinks He Is

Robert Whittaker doesn’t appear to be too impressed by Israel Adesanya.

Adesanya is riding a wave of momentum. “The Last Stylebender” is coming off a unanimous decision victory over Anderson Silva at UFC 234. While the decision was clear, the fight was still competitive and some have called into question whether or not Adesanya is overrated. Middleweights Chris Weidman and Paulo Costa certainly believe that he is.

The current UFC middleweight champion Whittaker took to Grange TV to give his take on Adesanya’s hype:

“I think that Adesanya isn’t as good as he thinks he is. I think he’s very good – very, very good – and I have a lot of respect for his skillset, 100 percent. He’s a dangerous guy. But I don’t think the pedestal that he’s on is as high as everyone else thinks it is, as he thinks it is. I think his fight with Anderson Silva was the first time his stand-up capabilities were put to the test with someone with similar stand-up capabilities. . . I don’t think Adesanya’s striking is as good as he believes. it is. It’s very good. I’m not saying his striking is bad, it’s very, very good – but I just don’t think it’s as good as he thinks it is. The times Adesanya’s looked very good is against people that don’t have the greatest striking.”

Adesanya is set to take on Kelvin Gastelum for the interim UFC middleweight championship. The two are scheduled to collide at UFC 236 on April 13.