Daniel Cormier: Robert Whittaker needs change at top, doesn't have style to beat Israel Adesanya

Daniel Cormier doesn’t see Robert Whittaker reclaiming the UFC middleweight title as long as Israel Adesanya is champion.

Outside of two losses to Adesanya, Whittaker (24-6 MMA, 15-4 UFC) hasn’t lost at middleweight. His resume includes wins over Yoel Romero twice, Kelvin Gastelum, Darren Till, Jared Cannonier, and most recently former title challenger Marvin Vettori this past Saturday at UFC Fight Night 209.

So where does that leave Whittaker? Cormier said the best-case scenario is if Alex Pereira dethrones Adesanya (23-1 MMA, 12-1 UFC) when they square off in the UFC 281 main event on Nov. 12.

“I think Robert Whittaker is so clearly ahead of everyone else,” Cormier said on his “DC & RC” ESPN show. “When you put him in there, he’s just gonna keep winning, and that is where the problem lies in the middleweight division, because you have a clear No.1, and you have a clear No. 2. You have a clear No. 1-A essentially, because outside of Robert Whittaker losing to Izzy, nobody else can beat him.”

He continued, “He’s better than everyone but the champion, which is not something to be ashamed of when you’ve held the championship before. So for him, it’s not as much about going out there and beating everyone else. It’s beating everyone else but also hoping for a little bit of luck. He needs Alex Pereira to win the fight in November.”

While Max Holloway recently got a third crack at Alexander Volkanovski after losing to him twice, Cormier just doesn’t see Whittaker getting a trilogy with Adesanya or beating him.

“It’s not about getting back to Izzy,” Cormier said. “He needs change at the top, because he doesn’t seem to have the style to really deal with Adesanya’s length. His issue with Adesanya is Adesanya is too tall. The style makes it difficult for him, but he’ll beat everyone else.”

Not only does Cormier think Whittaker should hope for Pereira to become champion, but he needs the Brazilian to beat Adesanya convincingly so the division can move on.

“He needs something different to happen at middleweight,” Cormier said. “Something very definitive. So if Pereira goes out there, and he starches Izzy, then maybe you start going, ‘Maybe Izzy cannot fight him right back,’ because if you remember, Jose Aldo got knocked out so clearly (by Conor McGregor) that they moved on. Leon Edwards can’t move on, because he was getting beaten and then he got the finish at the end (vs. Kamaru Usman).

“But if Pereira can do something very definitive, that is what Robert Whittaker needs if he hopes to find himself fighting for a championship again. Something definitive in a win from Alex Pereira. If it ain’t definitive, Izzy will get an immediate rematch even if he loses.”