I won every striking exchange - Robert Whittaker confident he won 3 rounds against Israel Adesanya at UFC 271

Robert Whittaker believes that he should've had his hand raised following his clash with Israel Adesanya at UFC 271.

After losing their first encounter by KO at UFC 243, 'The Reaper' bounced back with three consecutive wins to earn a rematch against Adesanya. Whittaker put on a much-improved showing, but lost a razor-close unanimous decision on the night.

During a recent interview with Submission Radio, the Australian middleweight stated that he was happy with the execution of his game plan at UFC 271. Whittaker feels that he controlled most of the rounds in his rematch against Adesanya and did enough to reclaim the 185 lbs crown, saying:

"I think the game plan went really well. Really, really well. It was obviously to have that fast jab in there. To make him pay every time he came in. And I believe I won every striking exchange when we got close together. Yeah, my jab was on point, and I was mixing the takedowns into the rounds. it was making him uncomfortable. He didn't have any freedom in his striking and that was the game plan. I believe I controlled a lot of the rounds because of that."

Watch Whittaker's appearance on Submission Radio:

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Robert Whittaker details the struggle of trying to take Israel Adesanya down

Landing takedowns was a huge part of Robert Whittaker's game plan in his rematch against Israel Adesanya at UFC 271. Despite being unable to control the champion on the canvas for extended periods, 'The Reaper' managed to land four takedowns. He even scrambled into a backpack position in the fourth round.

During his conversation with Submission Radio, Whittaker revealed why Adesanya is so difficult to take down. According to the former middleweight champion:

"It's hard. It's hard. There's two parts to it, right? First one is I guarantee you he's done absolutely nothing except wrestling since his last fight. But two, he's so slipperly like so sweaty and he's a strong, big, tall guy with long levers. He's hard to hold down."

Whittaker stated that the risks of using all his energy to hold Adesanya down outweighed the rewards. The 30-year-old added:

"What happens if, heaven forbid, I blow my arms out holding him down and he gets up? Then my arms are tired. You can't have tired arms against a striker like that. It's a bit of a funny balance. But in saying that, I believe I utilized it to its best effect."

Despite having already lost twice to Israel Adesanya, Robert Whittaker did enough at UFC 271 to prove that he's arguably one of the two best middleweights on the planet. If he can rack up a few wins at 185 lbs, he could find himself on the cusp of title contention once again.