Whittaker: I don t think Adesanya is as good as he thinks he is

Get the Full StoryI don t think the pedestal that he s on is as high as everyone else thinks it is, as he thinks it is. Just how good is Israel Adesanya?

The former kickboxing champion is being hyped as the UFC s next big star but, according to reigning middleweight champ Robert Whittaker, who thinks Adesanya will beat Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 236, The Last Stylebender isn t as good as he or the UFC thinks he is.

I think that Adesanya isn t as good as he thinks he is, Whittaker said on his own podcast, Grange TV h t Jed Meshew of MMA Fighting . 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 put on a dazzling show against Anderson Silva in front of a sold out Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia earlier this month, earning his fourth post-fight bonus with the promotion.

The New Zealand-based fighter was able to showcase the nuances and complexities of his striking against another top striker in Anderson Silva, but Whittaker isn t convinced Adesanya is as dangerous as some of the other less technical strikers in the division, such as Yoel Romero.

We re not kickboxing, Whittaker said. The difference in striking in the Octagon as opposed to the ring is night and day. Comparing the two isn t applicable. Yes, he can take a lot of the skillsets over and they re very transferable, but it s not the same. It s not the same.

Having very high technical skills in striking, isn t the same as being a very dangerous striker. If you were to look at Romero, he is not technically great at stand-up. He s not known for his technical grace with his standup, but most of his wins have been knockouts. He hits very hard. He hits like a truck. He s a dangerous striker. He would have to be one of the most dangerous strikers in the world. Most of his wins come by knockout standing up - punches, flying knees - he s a very, very dangerous striker but you can t say he s super technical, because he s not.

Adesanya is dangerous and technical, but he s not the same as Romero. He s not super, super dangerous.

Whittaker will hope to fight the winner of Adesanya vs. Gastelum around one to three months after UFC 236, which is when he estimates to be fully recovered from injury.

I m looking to fight the winner of that, he said. I guess, in terms of timelines and dates, it will be a month - two or three months after that. Three months maximum, one month minimum. That s the kind of timeline I m looking for.

UFC 236, which will feature an interim middleweight title bout between Adesanya and Gastelum presumably in the main event, is scheduled to take place on April 13. As of yet, no location or venue has been announced for the event.

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