Israel Adesanya is just another fight fan who is currently excited about UFC 311.
'The Last Stylebender' watches from his home in New Zealand on Saturday night as Dana White's first pay-per-view show of 2025 takes place at the Intuit Dome in California.
There are two titles on the line at UFC 311. In the co-main event, bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili will face 18-0 contender Umar Nurmagomedov.
In the headliner, pound-for-pound king Islam Makhachev will rematch top contender Arman Tsarukyan for the lightweight championship.
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
Israel Adesanya supports Islam Makhachev ahead of UFC 311
Israel Adesanya recently broke up UFC 311 with his new training partner, Robert Whittaker.
The former middleweight champions, who fought twice inside the Octagon, have put their rivalry aside as they look to bounce back from defeats to Dricus du Plessis and Khamzat Chimaev.
Whittaker has already made his feelings clear about Makhachev vs Tsaruykan 2.
Adesanya agrees with his prediction that the 155-pound champion will retain his title at UFC 311 – but he refuses to completely write off one of MMA's richest men who pulled off an upset.
“This is going to be a wrestling fight,” Adesanya said on his YouTube channel.
“This is going to be WrestleMania. I think they'll have to test each other's wrestling because they're so good. I don't think it will just cancel each other out.
“Even though we are going to Islamize, I still think Arman has a dog in this fight. I just feel like sometimes when it comes down to that moment, some people take it.
“In this fight I stand for Islam. Just because he's doing well now, it seems like he's just getting better and better and better. Arman does the same. I was very impressed with his last fight and the way he handles the spotlight and everything. I just don't think it will be enough to tackle Makhachev.
“Round five, late submission [win for Makhachev]. That defense against Charles 'Do Bronx' [Oliveira] was really smooth. But if he's tired, I count on that. I just know that Islam can definitely start the steamroller.”
Robert Whittaker explains how an old rival became a teammate
Naturally, fight fans were shocked to see footage of Adesanya and Whittaker training together earlier this week.
'The Reaper' has since explained how he squashed his beef with Adesanya before traveling to train with his former rival's team.
“It's a funny world, to be honest,” Whittaker said during an interview with Fox Sports. “If you had asked me a few years ago if I would have ever seen this coming, the answer would have been, 'Not in a hundred years.'
“I think where we were with the team at home, one of my training partners got injured, a few guys were tired and had other commitments that they wanted to focus on.
“I sat down with the team and Alex [Prates] said, “We need some bodies. How are we going to get them?' We started looking globally. I think I'm lucky that I can train in most places and get along with most people.
“We started looking around and then like a bolt of lightning we realized: 'Mate, City Kickboxing is only a 2.5 hour flight and they have the bodies.'
“It's New Zealand, the place of my birth. Everything just started lining up, right? So Alex contacted Eugene [Bareman] and had a conversation. Me, Alex and a few training partners came here to test the waters to see if we get along, and we get along well.
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