Israel Adesanya: I should have finished Robert Whittaker in the first round

“I should have punched him until the referee jumped on him. I guess the referee saved him on that one.”

Israel Adesanya put on the performance of his career on Saturday night, KO’ing Robert Whittaker in the second round of the UFC 243 main event to unify the middleweight titles and cement his position as the best 185-pound fighter in the world.

With that said, Adesanya feels he could have got Whittaker out of there much sooner if only he had continued to attack ‘The Reaper’ after dropping him at the end of the first round. Rather than put his fist in the air, Adesanya feels he could have landed a couple more shots on Whittaker before the bell sounded.

“I held my fist up,” Adesanya said at the UFC 243 post-fight press conference, per MMA Fighting’s Steven Marrocco. “That’s stupid. I should have punched him until the referee jumped on him. I guess the referee saved him on that one.”

‘The Last Stylebender’ will now look to defend his title against ‘Ricky Martin wannabe’ Paulo Costa, who recently beat Yoel ‘Soldier of God’ Romero to earn the next title shot.

As one of the most active fighters on the UFC roster, don’t be surprised to see Adesanya back in the Octagon within the next couple of months.