A long-rumored middleweight title rematch between Israel
Adesanya and Robert
Whittaker is now official for UFC
271.
The promotion announced the bout during the UFC 269 broadcast on
Saturday. UFC 271 takes place at the Toyota Center in Houston on
Feb. 12. Adesanya defeated Whittaker via second-round knockout at
UFC 243 to claim the 185-pound belt on Oct. 5, 2019.
Since his first meeting with Whittaker, Adesanya has gone 3-1 in
UFC competition, with successful 185-pound title defenses against
Yoel
Romero, Paulo Costa
and Marvin
Vettori. “The Last Stylebender” suffered his first career
defeat at UFC 259, when he moved up a division and fell to Jan
Blachowicz via unanimous decision in a light heavyweight title
bout this past March.
Whittaker, meanwhile, has gone 3-0 since his loss to Adesanya, with
a decision wins over Darren Till,
Jared
Cannonier and Kelvin
Gastelum solidifying his status as the division’s No. 1
contender. The 30-year-old PMA Super Martial Arts representative
has won 12 of his last 13 bouts within the Las Vegas-based
promotion dating back to June 2014.