UFC Champion Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker will meet for the second time for the UFC middleweight championship.
Nigerian-born superstar, who lives and trains in New Zealand, Adesanya defend his belt against New Zealand-born Australian rival, Whittaker (23-5), in the main event of UFC 271 at the Toyota Centre on February 13 in Houston, United States.
The bout was announced by the UFC on Saturday night during the UFC 269 broadcast.
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐂𝐇 𝐈𝐒 𝐎𝐍.
🇳🇬 @Stylebender vs 🇦🇺 @RobWhittakerMMA
[ #UFC271 | Feb 12 🔗https://t.co/ZrnO8qg7XH | @ToyotaCenter ] pic.twitter.com/dpW4jUTVWQ
— UFC (@ufc) December 12, 2021
Adesanya (21-1) first clashed with Whittaker (23-5) in 2019 at UFC 243, with “The Reaper” holding gold at the time. Adesanya, who entered the fight as an interim champion, would go on to win the fight via knockout in the second round.
Since then, “The Last Stylebender” has never lost at middleweight and has defended his belt three times at 185 pounds. His lone career setback came in a failed bid to become dual-champ against UFC light heavyweight titleholder Jan Blachowicz at UFC 259.
Whittaker has bounced back from his loss to Adesanya in an emphatic fashion. He eliminated top contenders Darren Till, Jared Cannonier, and Gastelum from the title race to work his way back to a rematch with Adesanya.
February’s UFC 271 card currently includes the following reported bouts:
Israel Adesanya vs. Robert Whittaker
Douglas Silva de Andrade vs. Sergey Morozov
Kyler Phillips vs. Marcelo Rojo
Renato Moicano vs. Alexander Hernandez
Roxanne Modafferi vs. Casey O’Neill
Mark Madsen vs. Vinc Pichel
Carlos Ulberg vs. Fabio Cherant
Mike Mathetha vs. Orion Cosce
Ronnie Lawrence vs. Leomana Martinez
Ed Herman vs. Maxim Grishin
