"It’s a funny world” - Robert Whittaker reflects on viral Israel Adesanya sparring sessions 

Robert Whittaker and Israel Adesanya's recent sparring session at City Kickboxing, the home of 'The Last Stylebender', has taken the MMA world by storm. The pair have gone from stark rivals to training partners in a stunning turn of events that has been gladly welcomed by fans.

'The Reaper' returned to his birthplace of New Zealand hoping to secure some solid training rounds. With Adesanya in the final stages of preparing for his UFC Saudi Arabia clash with Nassourdine Imavov on Feb. 1, Whittaker's presence at City Kickboxing was no doubt be appreciated by the former two-time middleweight champion.

Following footage of their sparring session going viral online, the Australian was interviewed by mainevent, where he reflected on the experience and said:

"Yeah, it's a funny world, honestly. If you would have asked me a few years ago if I'd ever seen this coming, the answer would have been, 'Not in 100 years.' Where we were with the team back home, one of my training partners got injured, a couple of the boys retired, had other committments they wanted to focus on."

He continued:

"We started looking around and like a lightening bolt realized that City Kickboxing is only a two-and-a-half hour flight away. They've got the bodies, it's New Zealand, the place of my birth. Everything just started lining up... We're getting along."

Catch Robert Whittaker's comments on training with Israel Adesanya below (0:50):

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Robert Whittaker predicts Israel Adesanya's clash with Nassourdine Imavov

Israel Adesanya will hope to return to winning ways against Nassourdine Imavov on Feb. 1 when they clash in the main event of UFC Saudi Arabia.

Having suffered consecutive losses for the first time in his career following his defeat to Dricus du Plessis at UFC 305, 'The Last Stylebender' is hungry to prove himself to still be a force in the division.

Ahead of the bout, former opponent-turned-training partner Robert Whittaker shared his thoughts on Adesanya's upcoming clash.

During a recent episode of his MMArcade Podcast, 'The Reaper' said:

"I'd have to lean into Izzy being the the favorite. He like he's so good at what he does but Imavov's a bit of a dog. Like, he can go the distance. His striking is good, I can see him pushing the pace, pushing the pressure to try to make Adesanya make errors, much like how Dricus [du Plessis] fought him."