Whittaker had some option words for the UFC middleweight champion.
Robert Whittaker took a highly-anticipated UFC Battle Night centrepiece matchup versus Kelvin Gastelum and made it his display.
Whittaker completely controlled Gastelum in an all-around initiative to rack up a consentaneous choice nothing Saturday night. All three judges scored 50-45 for Whittaker at the UFC Pinnacle in Las Vegas. DAZN News had it 50-45 for Whittaker too.
Fresh off the controlling victory, Whittaker blinked an ear-to-ear smile when the broach a possible rematch with middleweight champion Israel Adesanya was brought up.
” I believe it has to do with the time we crossed courses once again,” stated Whittaker, who experienced a second-round KO loss to Adesanya in November 2019, having recuperated to win three straight battles since. “I’m going to work hard. I believe I have some tricks he hasn’t seen yet as well as I’ll give him an excellent run.”
He added that he would like the rematch to take place back home.
Adesanya noticed Whittaker’s performance as well as responded with an ironical tweet:
While it continues to be seen if Whittaker can flash new methods in a rematch against Adesanya, Whittaker did generate an all-around great performance Saturday evening by providing a superb shot option, movement, and spacing en route to the landslide victory.
The much shorter Gastelum had to give chase to Whittaker. When Gastelum was able to land a shot, Whittaker made it a point to get in touch with two of his very own. During various other sequences, Whittaker kept a healthy room from Gastelum’s clubbing power with a crisp stab that came as part of stinging combinations. The previous middleweight champ also made use of unusual side movement around the Octagon to suppress Gastelum and promote his shot option.
With the battle well in hand midway with the fifth round, Whittaker managed an intelligent takedown to eat time off the clock and protect the success. By the end of the fight, Whittaker had racked up 103 strikes to Gastelum’s 64 and added four overall takedowns.
It was a skilful performance from Whittaker, who would like nothing more than another shot at Adesanya later this year.
