Eugene Bareman would rather not see [autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag] and [autotag]Robert Whittaker[/autotag] fight a third time.
UFC middleweight champion Adesanya (23-2 MMA, 12-2 UFC) already has beaten Whittaker (24-6 MMA, 15-4 UFC) twice in title fights. He knocked out Whittaker at UFC 243 in a title unification fight. Then he retained his belt by unanimous decision in a rematch at UFC 271.
Since then, Whittaker has defeated former title challenger Marvin Vettori and is booked to face Dricus Du Plessis (19-2 MMA, 5-0 UFC) at UFC 290 on July 8. Their matchup is being dubbed a No. 1 contenders bout, but Bareman doesn’t think a win over Du Plessis should be enough to award Whittaker a third fight with Adesanya.
“We’ve fought him, and he’s been in the ring one time since then – whereas we’ve just keep tracking on. So I don’t know,” Bareman told Sky Sports NZ. “We are who we are. Just put the opponent in front of us, and then we’ll fight.
“I mean, our preference is not to fight Robert again because we’ve obviously already beaten Robert twice, and he hasn’t really done anything since that loss to warrant him fighting again. So our preference would be the South African. But then the South African has to get across the line, and obviously, he’s got a very tough opponent in Robert to fight.”
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Adesanya has fought three times since he beat Whittaker the second time and is targeting a return at UFC 293 on Sept. 10 in Sydney. Bareman said “The Last Stylebender” wanted to fight before then, but will fight Whittaker a third time if he emerges as the next title contender.
“We’re fighting in Sydney, and if that means having to fight Robert again, it’s just what we have to do if he’s the next best available choice,” Bareman said.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 290.