Israel Adesanya reveals the one thing he regrets not doing in Robert Whittaker rematch at UFC 271

Following his decision win over Robert Whittaker at UFC 271, Israel Adesanya opened up about the one thing he wishes he had done differently during the middleweight bout.

'The Last Stylebender' scored his fourth successive defense of the 185lb title after beating Whittaker for the second time on February 12. The former kickboxer was criticized for being 'boring' despite dropping the challenger on one occasion during the fight.

In a recent interview, Israel Adesanya discussed the matchup and revealed something he hoped he had done before the second round began, saying:

"I gave him PTSD in the first round. And one thing I regret not doing is asking my corner or even looking at the screen... I wish I asked my corner, 'what did I drop him with', cause then they would have told me, 'left hand, you was southpaw'."

After analyzing the shot that put Whittaker down, Israel continued:

"So, yeah. My one regret is definitely I wish I'd just [have] been like 'what dropped him?'... But I just didn't want to focus on the past, so I was like okay, let me focus on right now. But that would have been a smart thing to do."

The Nigerian champion went on to say he believes Darren Till has time to mount a career comeback and challenge him for his middleweight strap before all is said and done.

Watch Adesanya discuss his regrets in the Robert Whittaker rematch below (10:02):

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Israel Adesanya's dilemma

Although his next opponent is rumored to be Jared Cannonier, if Israel Adesanya manages to get past the 37-year-old, who's left for him to face in the division?

The City Kickboxing representative has already bested four of the top-ranked fighters in his weightclass and has previously spoken out about wanting new challengers. Alongside the aforementioned Cannonier, Sean Strickland remains the only one yet to face the champion inside the top six in the division.

Adesanya has dreams of moving up to light heavyweight in search of a second title, and his increase in weight could come sooner than most people think.

As the 205lb picture begins to unfold, we could see the 32-year-old facing across the octagon from either Glover Teixeira or Jiri Prochazka in the near future.