Israel Adesanya Shares Prediction for Robert Whittaker vs. Ikram Aliskerov

Israel Adesanya recently made his prediction for the upcoming UFC on ABC 6 headliner on Saturday in Saudi Arabia.

Robert Whittaker (25-7) will face unranked prospect Ikram Aliskerov (15-1) in the main event at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh. Aliskerov stepped up on nine days’ notice, replacing Whittaker’s originally scheduled opponent Khamzat Chimaev, who withdrew from the card due to severe illness.

Adesanya is picking Whittaker to emerge victorious. “The Last Stylebender” believes Whittaker should be able to hold his own against Aliskerov on the ground, as he was already preparing for an elite wrestler in Chimaev. According to Adesanya, “Bobby Knuckles” will likely dispatch Aliskerov in Round 3 or 4.

“Rob was ready to wrestle this fight anyway, so the wrestling’s gonna be f—-ng top tier in this fight, I think. Striking will be nice. Banger. I like this banger of a fight,” Adesanya said on his YouTube channel. “Also this guy [Aliskerov], who did he last beat? Warlley Alves. Big step up in competition though against Rob. Rob, former champion, still on the hunt, still dangerous. I’m picking Rob this fight.

“I think Rob is gonna beat the breaks off his guy, like maybe from Round 2 onwards. I think Rob gets past Round 1, he starts to put it on this guy and he’s gonna feel a different beast. But who knows, we’ll see. We just haven’t seen him against competition like this yet. I just know how good Rob is, so I’m gonna go Rob, probably [via Round] 3 or 4 TKO.”

Adesanya dethroned Whittaker via knockout at UFC 243 in 2019 and defended his strap via unanimous decision in a rematch against “The Reaper” at UFC 271 in 2022. Whittaker has been a favorite in all of his recent outings except for the Adesanya rematch and is listed as a slight favorite against Aliskerov by most oddsmakers.

Aliskerov hasn’t lost a fight since his lone professional loss against Khamzat Chimaev in 2019 on the regional circuit. The Dagestani standout has finished 11 of his 15 wins, which includes back-to-back first round stoppage wins to start his UFC journey. Meanwhile, Whittaker is coming off a unanimous decision win over Paulo Costa at UFC 298 in February.

Adesanya challenges Dricus Du Plessis for the middleweight title at UFC 305 on Aug. 17 at the RAC Arena in Perth, Australia.