Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight champion Robert Whittaker has now captured three straight wins over Top 5 opponents and holds an 11-1 record in the 185-pound weight class dating all the way back to late 2014.
The bookies remain unimpressed.
Whittaker (23-5) opened as the +210 underdog against reigning middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, probably because the one loss charged to “The Reaper” — coming by way of knockout — was courtesy of “The Last Stylebender” at UFC 243 in Oct. 2019.
Adesanya is currently the -250 favorite, according to BetOnline.ag.
Whittaker, 30, punched his ticket to another middleweight title fight by turning away veteran bruiser Kelvin Gastelum at UFC Vegas 24 last weekend in “Sin City,” while Adesanya, 31, is looking to rebound from his light heavyweight loss to Jan Blachowicz.
Nothing is official at this time but the promotion is expected to put something together later this summer, depending on the recovery timeline for Whittaker.