The UFC have officially announced that the middleweight championship will be defended in the main event of UFC 271 in February.
The organisation officially announced the bout between champion Israel Adesanya and number one contender Robert Whittaker for February 12th during the UFC 269 broadcast.
This will be the second time the two fighters have fought, after Adesanya knocked Whittaker out to win the title at UFC 243 in October 2019.
The fight was originally hoped to take place in New Zealand after their first fight happened in Melbourne, Australia.
However with the COVID pandemic still without an end in sight, the UFC have opted instead to have it take place in Texas at the Toyota Centre.
Adesanya however replied to the official announcement with a cap emoji, which suggests this isn’t a done deal just yet.
It had been reported for a while that this fight would happen at UFC 271, after the original January date was moved back following the decision to book Francis Ngannou vs Ciryl Gane and Brandon Moreno vs Deiveson Figueiredo 3 for the UFC 270 pay-per-view instead.
Adesanya is undefeated at 185-pounds, defending his title three times successfully against Yoel Romero, Paulo Costa at UFC 253 and Marvin Vettori at UFC 263. He suffered the first defeat of his career against Jan Blachowicz when he looked to move up to light heavyweight and become a double champion at UFC 259.
Whittaker on the other hand has won three-in-a-row since losing his title to Adesanya, easing to decision victories against Darren Till at UFC Fight Island 3, Jared Cannonier at UFC 254 and then Kelvin Gastelum at UFC Vegas 24.
This fight is between the two undisputed best middleweights in the entire world, with their performances in the division putting them far and away ahead of the rest of the weight class.
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