Israel Adesanya believes it would be in UFC’s ‘best interest’ if he was champion

By Drake Riggs - February 8, 2019

Tomorrow night, the ‘Stylebender’ Israel Adesanya will be looking to take out the legendary Anderson Silva in the UFC 234 co-main event in Melbourne, Australia.

Israel Adesanya, UFC rankings

Meanwhile, the main event of the evening will see his division’s title be fought over as the middleweight champion Robert Whittaker looks to defend against Kelvin Gastelum.

With many believing that the 15-0 Adesanya is well on his way to one day fighting for the title, himself included, it recently raised the question of whether or not he thinks the UFC would prefer to have someone with his skill and personality as champion over Whittaker.

“I don’t know about rather, but for the company, it’s in their best interest if I was the champion,” Adesanya told Submission Radio. “Because I play the game well, I know how to do all this sh*t. And I know that with the belt comes extra responsibility, so I’ll be able to take on those roles, and with my management team as well, like, work out what we need to do with the UFC to play ball. So yeah, I wouldn’t say they’re hoping, I think for the best interest of the company it’d be in their best interest to have me as champion to move the whole sport forward better.

“Not just in this part of the world but all over the world. I’m Mr. worldwide, I’ve been all over the world. I’m able to connect with so many different people from all walks of life. And Rob, he’s a great champion. He’s the darkhorse of all champions. He’s the most underrated champion in UFC history because he doesn’t play the game as well as I can. And I’m talking fighting, I’m talking everything around it. But you have to realize, this all comes with it when it comes to prizefighting.”

If they each win at UFC 234, it’s not insane to think that Whittaker and Adesanya will be facing each other next inside the Octagon. UFC President Dana White has already called that a ‘massive’ matchup for the countries of Australia and New Zealand.

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 2/8/2019


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Israel Adesanya UFC