UFC 275 will reportedly feature a mammoth middleweight clash between top contenders Robert Whittaker and Marvin Vettori.
Over the course of the last few years there’s been one king at 185 pounds - Israel Adesanya. ‘The Last Stylebender’ has knocked back every other middleweight who he’s come across, solidifying himself as one of the division’s all-time greats.
At the same time, though, we’ve also seen some pretty special talents emerge in the form of Robert Whittaker and Marvin Vettori.
Whittaker was the former champion who Adesanya took the belt from, with Vettori serving as one of Izzy’s toughest tests en-route to the gold.
While the pair are both 0-2 against him, they’ve shown that they’ve got levels to their game which could lead them back to a title shot in the future.
In order to get there, they must first determine who the better man is. As per Ariel Helwani, Whittaker and Vettori will collide on June 11 at UFC 275.
During a recent appearance on The MMA Hour, Whittaker actually gave his thoughts on a match-up between himself and ‘The Italian Dream’.
“It wasn’t part of the plan, but I was offered an opportunity, presented with it, and honestly, I don’t have any injuries from the last fight,†Whittaker said. “There’s a lot of things — just the date suits up, there’s a lot of things that I had planned for after the date. And I wanted to get three fights in this year, so hitting a potential fight in June is a good day for me.â€
Will the winner get Adesanya?
Right now, Israel Adesanya is preparing to take on Jared Cannonier, potentially at the same event.
A Vettori victory would put him on a two-fight win streak whereas this is the first outing for ‘Bobby Knuckles’ since losing the rematch to his Nigerian foe. However, with Whittaker’s defeat being tighter than Vettori’s, it’s anyone’s guess as to what Dana White would do next.
Adesanya could move up to light heavyweight, Cannonier could shock the world and win the belt, or a brand new challenger entirely could emerge.Â
Welcome to middleweight, folks.