Jack Hermansson: Robert Whittaker Is A Tougher Matchup Than Israel Adesanya For Me

Hermansson Views Whittaker As A Harder Fight Than Adesanya At Least When It Comes To The Stylistic Matchup

Hermansson
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Despite Israel Adesanya’s impressive win over Paulo Costa at UFC 253, Jack Hermansson still views former champion, Robert Whittaker, as a tougher matchup for himself.

Adesanya remained unbeaten following a dominant performance against Costa this past weekend — an opponent many felt was his worst matchup. “The Last Stylebender” is already eyeing up Jared Cannonier next and has spoken of potentially testing himself on the ground against Hermansson — something the “Joker” doesn’t believe he really wants.

And while Hermansson was impressed by Adesanya’s striking display, he personally believes Whittaker is a tougher matchup for him when it comes to the stylistic differences.

“I still feel that Whittaker is a harder match-up for me,” Hermansson told Submission Radio. “And that’s just because I know what kind of striking styles I have a problem with in training, and that’s why.

“So, I believe that Whittaker is the hardest fight, and it probably doesn’t matter how amazing Adesanya looks, I see Whittaker as the tougher match-up for me. But you can never know until you’re in there with somebody, right?”

Hermansson: Till Has Easier Style Than Whittaker

Whittaker faces Cannonier at the UFC 254 pay-per-view next month and the winner of that fight could likely earn the next title shot. And if the former middleweight king is a tough matchup for Hermansson, his next opponent in Darren Till will only be an easier one.

Hermansson faces Till in a UFC Fight Night headliner on December 5 and while he doesn’t view him as an easy fight, he does believes the Liverpool native’s arsenal is rather limited.

“I believe that I’m going to be able to really dominate Darren,” Hermansson explained. “And if I say that Whittaker has a style that is tough to me, I think Till has, not an easy style, but easier. He is quite flat-footed, he’s stalking you down and his arsenal is pretty limited. The things that he does, he does very well, but you know, it’s the same things over and over in all of his fights.
 
“So, no surprises there. And I think it’s going to be relatively easy to prepare for. And yeah, I’m going to be able to catch him both with striking, and hopefully I can get a grappling exchange going and show him that I’m on another level there as I have done many times before.”

You can watch the full interview below:

Published on September 28, 2020 at 3:21 pm
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