More than two years after their first encounter, Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker are set to square off once more.
After months of speculation, the Herald can confirm Adesanya will put his undisputed UFC middleweight title on the line against the man he took it from, with the pair headlining UFC 271 at the Toyota Centre in Houston on February 13 (NZT).
Plenty of water has gone under the bridge since the two met at Melbourne's Marvel Stadium in October of 2019; a day on which Adesanya was able to catch Whittaker with a check left hook in the second round to claim a knockout win in front of more than 57,000 fans.
Since then, the pair have been on dominant winning streaks in the UFC's middleweight division. Adesanya has defended his title three times, defeating Yoel Romero, Paulo Costa and Marvin Vettori, while Whittaker has halted the momentum of title hopefuls Jared Cannonier, Kelvin Gastelum and Darren Till.
Speaking to the Herald about having to get through three challengers before getting a rematch for the title, Whittaker said it was not something he gave much thought to.
"I've been enjoying the process, training hard, getting wins under my belt and, yeah, it's not something I paid much attention to, to be honest. I've just been doing my thing," he said.
There were thoughts that the event could be hosted in Australia given the success of the first bout, however with so much uncertainty around planning events in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, the UFC has opted to host the vast majority of its events in the United States, with a select few in Abu Dhabi.
Whittaker said, as far as he was aware, there was not a serious discussion in hosting the event in Australia, but admitted he was not privy to those conversations.
"A big thing is, because I can't control where I go, a big part of my approach to it is just being grateful for the little things," he said. "So, if it's in Houston, whilst it's a far leg away and I have to leave my family for a little bit, but I've never been to Houston, so that should be fun.
"You've got to do that, otherwise everything just becomes a negative."
