Robert Whittaker had a big win over Jared Cannonier in the co-main event of UFC 254. While Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya had expressed a desire to fight Cannonier, Whittaker beating him complicated that. Izzy does not want to fight Whittaker, considering they faced each other a year ago. Adesanya won in a dominant fashion, knocking Robbo out in the second round.
While Robert Whittaker is the obvious contender, Adesanya has his sights elsewhere. Dana White announced that Izzy will face Jan Blachowicz for the Light Heavyweight title next.
One reason Dana cited was Whittaker not being interested in the fight. However, Whittaker has disputed that. While speaking with Mike Bohn, Whittaker confirmed his desire to fight Adesanya next.
“The only logical fight for me right now is Izzy. I have held this spot as one twice in the past four-five months.
“That is really the only fight I am interested in at the moment. It is very hard for me to be interested in anything else.”
Whittaker is yet to get a chance to rematch for the title he lost. The man that took it to Yoel Romero for five rounds deserves more respect than having to earn a contenders spot from scratch. He has already come back to defeat two elite fighters in Cannonier and Darren Till. He was the higher-ranked fighter in both fights and defended his spot as the number one contender in the rankings.
Meanwhile, Izzy defended his title twice. It is hard to slight Izzy for wanting to move up. He has been active ever since he debuted and had two title fights in under a year of his reign. At this rate of activity, Izzy should be able to fight Jan for the light heavyweight title and be able to fight again by next summer. While that does impede the progress of Whittaker and other middleweights, a fighter like Adesanya is in a position to do that.
The UFC is clearly setting up the groundwork for a possible Jon Jones super-fight with Izzy. But that leaves Whittaker out in the cold. The next time we see him fighting, it’ll probably be against Izzy or someone else for an interim championship.
