Israel Adesanya Eyes Two Big Fights Following TUF 27 Finale Win
Israel Adesanya is fresh off the biggest win thus far in his pro-MMA career and is already looking forward.
As seen in the main event of Friday’s (July 6, 2018) TUF 27 Finale at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on FOX Sports 1, Adesanya picked up a dominating unanimous decision Brad Tavares.
As a result of this win, Adesanya answered a lot of questions about his position in the middleweight division and now has his sights set going forward on two big fights. At first, when he asked about who he wants to fight next, he didn’t name any specific opponent including Uriah Hall.
“I don’t even care about him,” Adesanya said (transcript courtesy of MMA Fighting). “I just want to fight the best. I want to fight the guys that are ranked above me, even though I don’t care about rankings because they’re just opinions anyway. Even if a guy is below me and wants to fight, I’ll take the fight if it makes sense.
“I like fighting, I like this game, I can’t do it forever, so right now I realize I’ve just got to enjoy it while I can and just relish and bask in it and be grateful that I’m here doing this.”
Hall is slated to fight Paulo Costa in a middleweight showdown at Saturday’s UFC 226 pay-per-view event, which could see the rising middleweight contender fight the winner of this bout. Adesanya has always talked about wanting to fight UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker as well.
“I saw something the other day, where he said he doesn’t know who I am,” Adesanya said. “Well, you know who the f*ck I am now. Understand that? I said that from my first fight, these guys trying to pretend like they don’t know me, then they creeping all on my Instagram and shit. Hey, win your fight tomorrow and I’ll see you later on.”
“I told you guys. I already said it before my UFC debut. You’re going to see me and Robert Whittaker one day at Spark Arena in Auckland for the title,” Adesanya said. “I’ve seen it, I’ve seen this. All this, I’ve done it before.”
“I visualized this fight when I was in the shower today, different scenarios and all that kind of thing, but Robert Whittaker, that’s going to come one day, guaranteed,” he later added. “Even if it’s not for the title, but I think he’s going to keep that belt for a little while. He’s tough, he’s a smart kid, I think he’s going to keep that belt for a little while and I’ll come take it off him. Snatch it off him.”
