"That makes me take him seriously" - Israel Adesanya on motivation for rematch with Robert Whittaker

Israel Adesanya is set to take on Robert Whittaker at UFC 271 on 12th February 2022. Ahead of his highly anticipated rematch, Adesanya has revealed what keeps him motivated for his second fight against 'The Reaper'.

Israel Adesanya recently posted a video on his YouTube channel where he mentioned that Robert Whittaker's lack of excuses has kept him motivated throughout his training camp.

Unlike Marvin Vettori and Paulo Costa, who disputed their losses against Adesanya, Whittaker was quick to accept that he had been beaten fair and square.

"I mean the motivation for me is just, he's not making excuses like Vettori or Costa. He's accepted his loss. He finally admitted that I was in his head and he was emotional and I was like yeah, you finally admitted what I was saying this whole f**king time. So that makes me take him seriously, like he's accepted that. So it makes me take him seriously that okay, he's got a point to prove," said Adesanya.

Watch Israel Adesanya's UFC 271 fight camp video below:

Robert Whittaker has been on a three-fight winning streak since his loss to Israel Adesanya in 2019. 'The Reaper' has earned victories over Darren Till, Jared Cannonier and Kelvin Gastelum in the process.

Meanwhile, Israel Adesanya has defended his middleweight title three times. 'The Last Stylebender' also attempted to capture the light heavyweight championship from Jan Blachowicz at UFC 259. The 32-year-old came up short against the Polish native, suffering his first MMA loss via unanimous decision.

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Israel Adesanya's warning to Robert Whittaker

Israel Adesanya vs. Robert Whittaker 2 is a month away and things have already started to heat up between the two. Adesanya recently issued a cryptic warning to the former UFC middleweight champion over Twitter.

"Look in my eyes. Eat, sleep. train, repeat... It’s a plan that can’t be beat!! This will be worse than the first time."

Having finished Robert Whittaker in the second round in their first outing, it will be interesting to see how Israel Adesanya performs against 'The Reaper' this time.