Former UFC middleweight champions Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker shared a heartwarming moment together at UFC 284. The two middleweights put their rivalry aside and were seen hanging together for a moment at RAC Arena in Perth, Australia. The two stylish fighters haven’t seen eye-to-eye in recent years.
Adesanya and Whittaker are two of the biggest rivals in middleweight history in UFC. But, Adesanya recently cooled down all their heated rivalry in the past and posted a story on his Instagram account where he was seen hugging Whittaker, Adesanya also put a song in the background called, ‘You’ve got a friend in me’ by Randy Newman.
The two fighters faced each other twice in the octagon and both times Adesanya was able to defeat Whittaker. They clashed for the first time in UFC 243, where Adesanya, who is popularly known as ‘The last Stylebender’, knocked out Whittaker in the second round. Both met again in UFC 271 where Whittaker put up a better performance but still get defeated as the then-champion retained his title with a unanimous decision victory.
I proved that I’m the better fighter: Alexander Volkanovski
Meanwhile, in the main event of the recently concluded UFC 284 on February 12, lightweight champion Islam Makhachev defeated the featherweight champion and no.1 pound-for-pound fighter Alexander Volkanovski by a unanimous decision. However, Vokanovski still maintained his spot at the top of the P4P rankings.
Both champions displayed a jaw-dropping performance in the main event. Many fans have already declared it the fight of the year. Vokanovski was expecting a win as he was on a roll in the fifth but couldn’t convince the judges. He talked about the rankings and said that Makhachev didn’t do enough to replace him as the no.1 P4P fighter.
“Pound-for-pound, again… I still think I proved that I’m the better fighter and I’m pound-for-pound number-one, but that’s not up to me. I don’t wanna be that guy but if he was just a featherweight in my division, I squash him. I squash him and it’s a walk in the park…I don’t need him to be a featherweight.”
