Israel Adesanya sharpens skills with Whittaker before UFC Riyadh

Israel Adesanya has spent the week training with Robert Whittaker ahead of his fight against Nassourdine Imavov at UFC Saudi Arabia this weekend.

The middleweight shared that while he had previously invited Whittaker to train with him, the Australian’s presence this week came as a surprise.

“I was excited. I said f*** yeah, he can pull up anytime,” Adesanya said.

“I didn’t know what day he was coming so I saw him at the gym on a Monday.

“I was ecstatic. I was hyped.

“That was a moment for the MMA world, for us in general, just something to feel good about. Everyone liked this.”

It was not all rainbows and butterflies though, as Adesanya said that Whittaker gave him valuable advice ahead of Saturday’s main event in Riyadh.

“Having a guy with his skill set, his experience, a new body, new energy at this stage of your career, it’s always nice,” he said.

“Of course, even if he didn’t train with me, having him around would have been beneficial to this camp because of the energy he brings.

“But training with him, hanging out with him, moving with him, definitely picked his brain and we just shared a few ideas.

“I can’t wait because I’ll go over there and do the same thing and over the next few years, we’ll be linking up a few more times.”

UFC bookmakers favour Adesanya to defeat Imavov and gain his first win in the promotion since April 2023.

However, the markets are not entirely one-sided, with outright winner odds of $1.53 to $2.62 in the Kiwi’s favour at BetOnline.

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