Coming off of a huge win over future UFC Hall Of Famer Anderson "The Spider" Silva at UFC 234 Israel Adesanya will get his first crack at UFC Gold against Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 236. It was made clear that it will be a while before the current UFC Middleweight Champion Robert "The Reaper" Whittaker makes his return to the octagon after he was pulled from UFC 234 and had emergency surgery due to a hernia in his abdomen.
The UFC Middleweight Champ Robert Whittaker was scheduled to face #4 ranked Kelvin Gastelum in a matchup that was highly anticipated but was scrapped during the day of UFC 234. While Whittaker weighed in and faced off against Gastelum he looked fine nut as he tried to rehydrate he began experiencing some serious issues when he was trying to keep the fluids in his system. At the hospital, it was learned that had to have emergency surgery to repair an abdominal hernia in his intestine and a twisted collapsed bowel. If Robert had fought that night he could have had a very fatal injury that could have very well ended his career.
It is unclear when the UFC Middleweight Champion Robert Whittaker would able to make his return to the octagon his team said he hopes to return by the summer time. This is a very unfortunate situation as Robert has had serious health issues in the past with his stomach.
Rising star and Middleweight contender Israel Adesanya has been tearing through the Middleweight Division since he first entered the Octagon at UFC 221 with big wins over notable names. Since Israel had defeated former champion and arguably the greatest UFC fighter of all time Anderson Silva there has plenty of call outs and attention thrown in the direction of the "Stylebender" Adesanya. A few fighters have essentially shown interest in a fight with Israel Adesanya as former Middleweight Champ Chris Weidman said he was not impressed by the style bender's performance against Silva. Chris Weidman has 2 victories over Silva so he was trying to prove a point.
Undefeated top contender #7 ranked middleweight Paulo Costa also shared his thoughts on Adesanya as he feels he would run through him. While the fighters in the division want a chance to take out Israel there is no denying that he is easily one of the best strikers in the UFC today with his style and technique are held on a different pedestal.
Israel Adesanya has defeated names like Brad Tavarez, Marvin Vettori, Derek Bruson, and Anderson Silva as he is aiming to make his claim as the greatest UFC fighter of all time with the UFC Middleweight Championship in his cross-hairs. It is expected that whoever wins the bout between Kelvin Gastelum and Israel Adesanya for the Interim Title will face Robert Whittaker when he is healthy and medically cleared to fight in the UFC again. Israel Adesanya said Anderson Silva was "Honey dicked" into taking that previous fight which launched Adesanya into title contention and it seems to be the truth. But even as of late with the UFC Interim title holders are not guaranteed a title shot with the champion.
.
