Israel Adesanya shares his prediction for Robert Whittaker vs. Ikram Aliskerov at UFC Saudi Arabia: “This is a banger”

Israel Adesanya has shared his prediction for this weekend’s Robert Whittaker vs Ikram Aliskerov showdown.

As we know, Robert Whittaker is an all-time great in the UFC’s middleweight division. In addition to being a former champion, he’s also had some genuinely incredible moments in the division. Of course, this weekend, he was expecting to face Khamzat Chimaev – but that isn’t going to happen.

Due to an illness, Chimaev was forced to pull out of the contest. Instead, Bobby Knuckles will be going head to head with Ikram Aliskerov. Everyone knows that Aliskerov is a dangerous opponent, but we’ve never seen him against this level of opponent in the UFC.

RELATED: Robert Whittaker plans to make a “statement” against Ikram Aliskerov at UFC Saudi Arabia: “Stop Ikram in his tracks”

Israel Adesanya, who is 2-0 against Whittaker, recently gave his thoughts on this fight and how he thinks it’ll play out.

Adesanya backs Whittaker

“This is a banger of a fight,” Izzy said in a breakdown of the June 22nd card. “It’s a big step up in competition though [for Aliskerov]. Rob is a former champion, still on the hunt, still dangerous. I’m picking Rob in this fight.”

“I think Robert is going to beat the brakes off this guy from round two onward. I think Rob gets past round one and starts to put it on this guy, and he’s going to feel a different beast. But who knows? We haven’t seen [Aliskerov] against competition like this yet. I just know how good Rob is so I’m gonna go Rob, probably in three or four [rounds] by TKO.”

Quotes via MMA Mania

Do you believe that Robert Whittaker will get the job done against Ikram Aliskerov? How excited are you to see this fight? Let us know your thoughts, BJPENN Nation!