Israel Adesanya has his first fight of 2022 booked.
The UFC middleweight champion is set to defend his title against the man he won it from – Robert Whittaker. The two are set to rematch on Feb. 12 at UFC 271 at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.
The bout was announced by the promotion on Saturday night.
It’s a rematch that’s been over two years in the making.
After capturing the interim UFC middleweight title in a classic battle against Kelvin Gastelum, Adesanya (21-1 MMA, 10-1 UFC) unified the belts with then undisputed champ Whittaker (23-5 MMA, 14-3 UFC) in arguably the most flawless performance of his career.
Since then, “The Last Stylebender” has defended his belt three times. His lone career setback came in a failed bid to become dual-champ against UFC light heavyweight titleholder Jan Blachowicz at UFC 259.
Whittaker has bounced back from his loss to Adesanya in an emphatic fashion. He eliminated top contenders Darren Till, Jared Cannonier, and Gastelum from the title race to work his way back to a rematch with Adesanya.
