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Robert Whittaker is a former UFC middleweight champion and, in the eyes of most spectators, the second-best mixed martial artist in his division. Despite his two losses to reigning middleweight kingpin Israel Adesanya, with the second defeat being especially controversial with many observers believing Whittaker won the rematch, 'The Reaper' has continued to improve in a bid to one day recapture UFC gold.
Last Saturday, Whittaker faced Marvin Vettori in the co-main event of UFC Paris, dominating 'The Italian Dream' in a manner never witnessed before. While Robert Whittaker might not be a better fighter than Adesanya, he has made a strong case for himself to be considered more skilled than his Nigerian rival. Adesanya is certainly a more effective fighter due to his spotless record at middleweight, but Whittaker may very well be the more skillful of the two.
Thus, in honor of Robert Whittaker's stellar performance against Marvin Vettori, a mutual opponent of theirs, this list details five reasons why 'The Reaper' is a more skilled mixed martial artist than 'The Last Stylebender'.
#5. Robert Whittaker has fared better against mutual opponents
Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker have a large number of opponents in common. Both fighters faced Marvin Vettori, Kelvin Gastelum, Derek Brunson, Yoel Romero, Jared Cannonier and Brad Tavares at different points. While Adesanya defeated Brunson decisively, his other wins were not as clear-cut. The Nigerian squeeked past Kelvin Gastelum in a razor-thin decision win, while his other conquests were convincing but not dominant affairs.
Meanwhile, Robert Whittaker dominated every single foe they shared in common. He completely outclassed Vettori and Gastelum in a way that forced both fighters, who thought they were victorious against Adesanya, to reflect on the difference in skills between themselves and Whittaker, with Gastelum stating that he'd never been as dominant as he was in his loss to 'The Reaper'.
Vettori, who often disagrees with the judges' verdict, had nothing but praise for Whittaker's performance.
Similarly, the Australian KO'd Brad Tavares in the first round, while Adesanya took him to a unanimous decision. Even Derek Brunson, against whom both men earned KO/TKOs, was finished faster by Robert Whittaker. Jared Cannonier, their most recent foe in common, was more thoroughly beaten by the Australian, who rocked and wobbled him, while Adesanya merely outpointed him with jabs and low kicks from long range.
#4. Robert Whittaker is a better wrestler
Robert Whittaker is an accomplished freestyle wrestler whose credentials include gold medals in Australia's national wrestling championships and the Australia Cup. The strength of Whittaker's wrestling is such that he outwrestled a more experienced wrestler in Kelvin Gastelum while also defending Yoel Romero's takedown attempts. As one of the core facets of MMA, wrestling is a martial art that enables fighters to control the rules of engagement in any bout.
Not only is Whittaker an accomplished wrestler, but his wrestling is consequential and is well-integrated in his overall fighting system. For example, 'The Reaper' uses his jab to create openings for his takedowns. After landing enough stinging jabs, Robert Whittaker sticks another jab to his foes, shoving them with it as he wraps his alternate hand behind their knee to pick up their leg.
Once his opponent is standing on one leg, the Australian steps forward while pushing them with his jab and raising their trapped leg to his waist, upsetting their balance as he runs them to the ground. In another setup, he uses his left hook. Since a fighter must be close enough to be struck by his opponent's left hook in order to land their own, Robert Whittaker weaponizes this understanding. He fakes the left hook to draw his foe's counter-left hook.
The moment his opponent commits to their counter-left hook and squares their hips, Robert Whittaker ducks under the punch for an easy double-leg. Meanwhile, Adesanya does not possess nearly the same depth of technique.
#3. Robert Whittaker is a superior grappler
Adesanya is and will likely always be a kickboxer. He has no interest in veering away from his successful kickboxing game. After all, why should he when it has rendered him all but unbeatable at middleweight? Unfortunately, doing so does have its own detriments. For example, whenever Adesanya concedes a takedown, he has a bad habit of turning onto his stomach to push off of his hands and feet to stand himself back up.
This exposes his back and will almost certainly be targeted by a skilled back-taker the moment the Nigerian starts a scramble after a takedown. While Whittaker is no Demian Maia, he is far more skilled on the ground. The Australian has earned five wins by submission and possesses a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu compared to Adesanya's purple belt. On the ground, he exhibits commendable positional grappling, using underhooks to control his opponent's posture.
Even Ronaldo 'Jacare' Souza, one of the greatest grapplers in MMA history, was unable to do much of anything to Robert Whittaker on the ground due to the Australian's surprising skill. 'The Reaper' frequently traps one of his foe's legs with his own, while hand-trapping to neutralize their defense in an effort to open them up to elbows and punches.
#2. Robert Whittaker can fight going forwards and backwards
Israel Adesanya is a more effective (and indeed better) striker than Robert Whittaker. Thus far, the Nigerian's striking style has been enough to overcome everyone he's faced in the middleweight division, including Whittaker himself, twice. His signature fighting system consists of maintaining a long distance that is well-suited for his tall, lanky frame as Adesanya outsizes nearly every middleweight on the UFC roster.
From his preferred counter-striking distance, Adesanya is a master. Due to his length, the distance he maintains causes a lot of his opponents to kick ahead of themselves whenever they try targeting his legs with low kicks. Furthermore, from the outside, Adesanya can snipe at his foes with sharp jabs and hard low kicks. His low kicks are especially powerful, and he's able to land them without the risk of getting them checked due to his hip feints.
While many strikers feint with their hands, shoulders and even heads, Adesanya is unique. He uses hip feints, thrusting his hips to cause his opponents to overreact to the perceived threat of a hard low kick. If they take the bait, they open themselves up to punches or kicks over the top like the Nigerian's question mark kick.
Other times, opponents lunge forward, which is Adesanya's preference as he can simply pull back at the waist to lean away from their strikes while he twists and turns his torso into counter-hooks as his foes overextend.
Unfortunately, Adesanya is limited to being a counter-striker. If his opponents present a stylistic challenge, he does not vary his approach, as against Yoel Romero, Adesanya merely stuck to low kicking him, using an easy-to-land and low-score strike. Meanwhile, Whittaker is capable of adapting his striking regardless of his opponent's approach, fighting as both a pressure fighter (front-foot) and counter-fighter (backfoot) when needed.
Against Yoel Romero, Whittaker fought as a counter-puncher, while his recent matchup with Vettori saw him pressure the Italian. Furthermore, 'The Reaper' altered his usual high-volume striking into stifling power shots to strip Vettori of his range as every time 'The Italian Dream' stepped forward, he became wary of fully committing to his strikes. Typically, the Australian enjoys fighting from mid-range, allowing him to stutter-step into a crisp boxing combination.
Two of Whittaker's nuclear options are his left hook and right high kick. His setups are varied. For his left hook, he often throws it as a counter to his opponent's counter. After throwing a right cross to bait his opponent's counter, Whittaker ducks under their blow before emerging from their open side with a thunderous left hook. Other setups include landing front kicks to the midsection to straighten his opponent's posture.
After enough kicks, his opponents will likely try to catch or parry any subsequent ones. However, as their hands drop low to catch a kick, a left hook lands over the top. Lastly, 'The Reaper' uses the threat of his jab-right cross combination to dupe opponents into slipping on the outside of his right cross—and into the path of a right high kick.
Against foes who don't oblige, Robert Whittaker deliberately misses his right cross before turning his palm inward and shoving his foe's head into the kick.
#1. Robert Whittaker is capable of adjusting mid-fight
Not many fighters are capable of adjusting mid-fight. The months that mixed martial artists spend fine-tuning their bodies and reactions to their gameplans are difficult to overcome. Unfortunately, due to the sheer chaos present in many bouts, all fighters at some point encounter a matchup that does not transpire as their coaches predicted.
Henry Cejudo and Demetrious Johnson are two fighters capable of making such adjustments. Israel Adesanya cannot as he does not deviate from his primary approach even if the bout is much closer than he'd like. Whittaker, however, adjusts when needed. Against Romero, for example, Whittaker clearly did not expect his foe to be fast enough to counter his blitzes as 'The Reaper' is typically faster than his opponents.
To avoid being knocked unconscious, Whittaker began to fake his entries, causing Romero to anticipate punches that never came as the Australian leapt into hard side kicks targeting his lead knee at an angle. This was done in an effort to stifle Romero's explosiveness and prevent his counterpunches from being thrown while also rendering him a more stationary target.
Additionally, against Israel Adesanya himself, Robert Whittaker approached their rematch at UFC 271 with more caution. However, after realizing that striking alone would not be successful, Whittaker deviated from his primary gameplan by implementing takedowns, ultimately using his wrestling to set up his strikes and vice versa.
