UFC 271 press conference LIVE: Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker speak ahead of fight
The middleweight champion and his challenger come face-to-face for the first time since their first fight
UFC 271 takes place in Houston, Texas this Saturday, with the headline bout seeing middleweight champion Israel Adesanya defend the belt against Robert Whittaker in a rematch, more than two years after the current title holder dethroned the Australian.
Adesanya has antagonised Whittaker at every opportunity – both before their first fight and in the build-up to this weekend’s clash – and tonight the rivals will go face-to-face for the first time since their initial in-ring meeting. On that evening in October 2019, Nigerian-born New Zealander Adesanya knocked out Whittaker on the then-champion’s home soil in Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium. The seismic bout ended in the second round, with a UFC record crowd of more than 57,000 in attendance.
The pair will main event again this Saturday, with the co-main event featuring Whittaker’s compatriot Tai Tuivasa in an important heavyweight match-up against former title challenger Derrick Lewis. All four fighters will speak at a press conference tonight, as will UFC president Dana White.
Follow live updates from the UFC 271 pre-fight press conference below.
UFC 271 press conference
White is about to do a ‘shoey’ out of the shoe gifted to him by Tuivasa, with the crowd and fighters egging him on...
UFC 271 press conference
Adesanya is wearing a necklace that contains a small screen, which is displaying his knockout of Whittaker on repeat – NFT-style.
Whittaker: “He beat me the first time, he’s got bragging rights. What do I do? It’s a cool necklace.”
UFC 271 press conference
A journalist asks White about the recent controversies around UFC ring announcer Joe Rogan and his Spotify content.
Adesanya steps in: “There’s a lot of c***s in this game, there’s a lot of snakes, but Joe Rogan is one of the nicest, most humble motherf*****s I’ve had the pleasure of working with.
“F*** the noise.”
The crowd cheers and the fighters at the table clap.
UFC 271 press conference
Lewis says he’s coming to “knock [Tuivasa’s] a** out”, and Tuivasa says the fight “probably won’t” go past the first round.
Tuivasa gifts shoes to everyone on the table in reference to his ‘shoey’ celebration.
UFC 271 press conference
UFC president Dana White says Derek Brunson vs Jared Cannonier this weekend is a “very important match-up for the weight class”, but he refuses to call it a No1 contender’s fight at middleweight.
UFC 271 press conference
“I think I was just venting on him to be honest!” Whittaker laughs.
“I was feeling the pressure from a lot of different avenues and I wasn’t happy with a lot of different things, and I was just angling it towards him. But I’ve let all that go.
“I’m very happy with where I am.”
UFC 271 press conference
Whittaker: “One of of the things I learned [in the first fight] is he’s tricky to hit, he’s a pain to hit.
“You can’t really reinvent the wheel, I’ve just been making slight improvements [since then], trying to be more diverse.
“I’m excited to get in there with him again and test myself. The rematch is a good way to gauge how far I’ve come.”
A positive reaction from the crowd to those comments from the Australian.
UFC 271 press conference
“I still have properties in [Whittaker’s head], rent-free,” Adesanya says.
Again, Whittaker smirks. He seems to be taking this more lightly than the build-up to the first fight.
UFC 271 press conference
Adesanya on Whittaker’s evolution: “He’s younger than me; I know I look fresh, but he’s younger than me.
“This guy did a lot of work and he ran through everyone until he ran into me, then I stopped that s***.
“The last few fights he’s done what he’s always done – he’s always been a beast, but I’m a different animal.”
Whittaker smirks.
UFC 271 press conference
A mixed reaction for former middleweight champion Whittaker... a better one for current title holder Adesanya!
Will it be the same in Houston come fight night?
If so, it’ll be much different than the pair’s first clash in Melbourne, where the Aussie crowd were fully behind their man Whittaker.
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