Outside Source
Nikita Krylov would like to be the wrench in a former’s champ’s plans at 205 pounds. | 📷: Getty/UFC
Nikita Krylov wants to play spoiler for Robert Whittaker’s light heavyweight move.
Whittaker (26-9) is set to make his light heavyweight debut in the Ultimate Fighting Championship against Krylov (31-11) at UFC 329 on Saturday, July 11 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Krylov believes Whittaker envisions a light heavyweight move like Alex Pereira, who went on to win the title at 205 pounds. However, the Ukrainian-born Russian fighter has claimed that the former middleweight champion’s move up is more likely to end up like Israel Adesanya‘s or Chris Weidman’s.
Nikita Krylov says Robert Whittaker’s light heavyweight move mirrors Israel Adesanya
Adesanya only fought once at light heavyweight, losing his title bid to then-champion Jan Blachowicz in 2021. Weidman had also moved back to middleweight after being thwarted at light heavyweight by Dominick Reyes in 2019. Krylov hopes to send Whittaker back to 185 pounds in a similar fashion.
“It looks like he wants to move up like Alex Pereira. But I think it may end up the way it did in Adesanya’s case,” Krylov told Red Corner MMA. “Jan Blachowicz beat Israel Adesanya; Dominick Reyes beat Chris Weidman; I’d like to see something similar for Robert as well.”
Whittaker never reclaimed his middleweight title after losing it to Adesanya in 2019. The Australian is moving up to light heavyweight on the back of consecutive losses to Khamzat Chimaev and Reinier de Ridder.
Meanwhile, Krylov has gone 6-6 in the UFC since making his Octagon debut in 2018. He is coming off a stoppage win over Modestas Bukauskas, rebounding from back-to-back losses to Reyes and Bogdan Guskov.
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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