One of UFC’s best on-paper rematches in quite some time headlines UFC 271 on Saturday, when middleweight champion Israel Adesanya defends his title against the man he took it from in Robert Whittaker.
The card at Toyota Center in Houston features a pair of Down Under stars, as Adesanya (21-1) is a New Zealand resident by way of Nigeria, while Whittaker (24-5) was born in New Zealand and is now based in Sydney.
They first met at UFC 243 in Melbourne, where Adesanya defeated Whittaker via second-round knockout in a shockingly one-sided fight in October 2019.
That marked Whittaker’s only loss in his past 13 fights dating to 2014. He then went out and did precisely what he needed to in order to earn a rematch after such a lopsided setback, as he scored wins over three straight contenders in Darren Till, Jared Cannonier and Kelvin Gastelum.
Adesanya has fought four times since defeating Whittaker.
He lost via decision when he went up in weight and challenged then-UFC light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz. But he remains unblemished at 185 pounds, using his next-level striking and underrated endurance to successfully defend his belt three times.
The evening’s co-feature matchup promises fireworks.
Houston hometown favorite Derrick Lewis takes on fellow knockout artist Tai Tuivasa in a heavyweight showdown that shouldn’t last long either way. Lewis (26-8) has won five of his past six. Last time out, his first-round finish of Chris Daukaus marked the 13th knockout of his UFC career, which set a record for knockouts in the company regardless of weight class.
Affable Aussie Tuivasa (14-3), meanwhile, has won four in a row, all via knockout, with three of those coming in the opening round and the other in the opening minute of the second round. Six of his seven UFC wins are via KO or TKO.
–Field Level Media