Israel Adesanya has high praise for Robert Whittaker as his former opponent gears up for his UFC 303 fight. Whittaker is risking it all by taking on Ikram Aliskerov on a week’s notice since Khamzat Chimaev pulled out of the bout, and ‘The Last Stylebender’ knows how dangerous the New Zealand native still is despite being past his prime.
Adesanya and Whittaker have always been quite respectful to each other and this trend continued in the former’s latest YouTube video. Apart from discussing the very promising UFC 303 card, Adesanya talked about Robert’s chances against Aliskerov, saying,
“Rob, former champion, still on a hunt, still dangerous. I’m picking Rob in this fight, I think Rob is going to beat the brakes off this guy like maybe from round 2 onwards.”
Israel Adesanya knows what kind of beast Robert Whittaker is inside the octagon. Although he is one of the nicest guys outside of it, he becomes a different person come fight night. This is exactly why ‘The Last Stylebender’ predicts a round 3 or round 4 TKO in favor of ‘Bobby Knuckles.’ Adesanya also mentioned that Whittaker is the favorite since he is a tried and tested fighter going up against a relatively unknown opponent.
Well, there was another up-and-coming fighter who claimed he would have taken the fight on short notice. Yet, unfortunately for him, he could not pick up the UFC’s call on time.
Bo Nickal claims the UFC offered him the Robert Whittaker fight but he did not have any cell service
There is a lot of hype surrounding Bo Nickal and many believe he is the next big thing in the UFC. Well, in a recent episode of his ‘Nickal and Dimes’ podcast, Nical revealed that the UFC approached him with the Robert Whittaker fight, which he couldn’t accept due to an unfortunate incident.
“I got a call while I was in the mountains of Montana and didn’t get back to cell service for three days. I came back to a few texts saying, ‘Call me back,’ and it was too late.”
Bo Nickal was offered to fight Robert Whittaker on ten days’ notice but missed it because he had no cell service in Montana:
“I got a call while I was in the mountains of Montana and didn’t get back to cell service for three days. I came back to a few texts saying, ‘Call me… pic.twitter.com/FRVHfaUoN6
— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) June 18, 2024
Although there is no chance for such a fight to materialize as of now, it would have been one for the history books. After just 3 fights in the UFC, Nickal would have gotten a shot at a former champion to test his skills. Well, here’s to hoping that Bo Nickal will get many more such changes in the years to come.
