"That's his downfall, his ego" - Israel Adesanya is not buying into Robert Whittaker's new-found mental clarity

The mental warfare and battle of words continues between Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker ahead of their highly anticipated clash at UFC 271. 'The Last Stylebender' has refused to buy into Whittaker's recent comments. The Australian claimed he was a different fighter when he first fought Adesanya.

Adesanya, in an interview uploaded to his official YouTube channel, said:

"I guess I humbled him to the point that he can't say the s*** he was saying the first time around... first he said, 'Israel isn't as good as he thinks he is', and I saw those snippets of what he was saying and he was finding it hard to kind of swallow it. He's admitting it, he's saying the right things but he's not believing it. His ego still won't let him, and that's his downfall, his ego... He has found this newfound mental clarity... I just don't buy into it."

Watch the video below:

The two foes will settle their rivalry at UFC 271 when they face each other in the main event for the middleweight throne.

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Robert Whittaker addresses Israel Adesanya's ego comments

Robert Whittaker has been widely involved with media obligations ahead of the rematch with Israel Adesanya. In them, he has constantly stressed the fact that he's a completely different competitor this time around.

He recently asserted that his “ego” was one of the primary reasons behind him losing to Adesanya via second-round KO at UFC 243 in October 2019.

Speaking to Stake, Israel Adesanya jibed at Whittaker and alleged that 'The Reaper' isn’t the good guy that many in the MMA community believe he is:

“People kept saying what a good guy he is, but trust me he’s not. You don’t see that behind the scenes. And now he’s admitted it was his ego that got the best of him – well I told you so, he should have listened to me!”

In an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda’s James Lynch, Robert Whittaker has now refuted Israel Adesanya’s claims. ‘The Reaper’ stated:

“I don’t know. It’s like, don’t get ego and egotistical mixed up, right? Like, I think ego, every fighter has ego. And it’s like, I’m not pretending to be anything that I’m not. I think he’s getting confused of the difference there, but it doesn’t bother me. Like, people know who I am. By now, people would’ve seen a mask if I was wearing one. Don’t have a mask. I’m very proud of my skill-set and how good I am. Oh, he’s definitely confused. But it could be gamesmanship. Who knows?”

Watch Robert Whittaker’s conversation with James Lynch for Sportskeeda below: