Brendan Schaub weighs in on Robert Whittaker’s game plan for Israel Adesanya rematch: “He’s making a huge mistake”

By Susan Cox - February 9, 2022

Brendan Schaub, the former UFC heavyweight, weighed in on Robert Whittaker’s game plan for a rematch with Israel Adesanya during his YouTube podcast ‘The Schaub Show’.

Brendan Schaub

Schaub thinks Whittaker should come up with his own strategy to beat Israel Adesanya, and not be relying on replicating Jan Blachowicz’s gameplan.

Jan Blachowicz met up with ‘The Last Stylebender’ at UFC 259 in March of 2021. The outcome was Blanchowicz (28-9 MMA) defeating Adesanya (21-1 MMA) via unanimous decision. It was to be Adesanya’s only blemish on his MMA record.

Robert Whittaker, Israel Adesanya

Image via @ufc on Instagram

Brendan Schaub expressed his view that Whittaker was making a ‘huge mistake’ if he’s trying to copy Jan Blanchowiczs’ gameplan:

“I think he’s making a huge mistake thinking that his gameplan at middleweight will work the same as it worked for Jan Blachowicz who walks around at 240 lbs. I think he’s making a huge mistake if he thinks that he’s gonna have the same success on takedowns that Jan Blachowicz had at 240 lbs against a lighter Izzy.”

Continuing Schaub said:

“I think Jan set a blueprint on how to beat him Israel Adesanya. Definitely we saw that Izzy is much less dangerous off his back. Still dangerous but less dangerous. You know, if I was a strategist I would be writing down all the points which Jan utilized to take that win and then putting it in my own.”

Whether Whittaker will take Brendan Schaub’s advice or not, the two fighters will go head to head at UFC 271 this weekend.

A much anticipated ‘Robert Whittaker vs Israel Adesanya 2’ takes place at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas on Saturday, February 12th.

After Whittaker (23-5 MMA) lost his title to Adesanya back in October 2019 at UFC 243 in Melbourne, Australia, he is aiming to reclaim his belt.

Will you be watching the Whittaker vs Adesanya 2 this weekend? Who do you predict will emerge victorious? Share your thoughts in the comment section PENN Nation!


Topics:

Brendan Schaub Israel Adesanya Robert Whittaker UFC UFC 271