Robert Whittaker's camp have brushed aside Israel Adesanya's assertion he's getting paid more than the defending champion for Sunday's UFC middleweight world title bout.
Whittaker fights interim titleholder Adesanya at Melbourne's Marvel Stadium and the confident NZ-based Nigerian has been happy to talk up the bout.
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That has extended to him declaring he's getting paid more than Whittaker for the fight.
"How would he know," Whittaker's manager Titus Day told AAP. "For a start it's confidential, so he wouldn't know anyway... he's just talking s***.
"If he is, good, it just makes it better for us negotiating next time. Rob gets paid a lot, he's very happy he's got a great deal with the UFC."
Day said Whittaker was as relaxed a she's ever seen him in the lead-up to a fight.
"I think he just feels like he's completely prepared, he could have fought two months ago," Day said. "It's just been a waiting game."
Whittaker's performance manager, Fabricio Itte, said his charge's numbers showed he was the strongest and fittest he'd been.
He wasn't concerned they hadn't found anyone who could duplicate the skillset of Adesanya - the man nicknamed 'The Last Stylebender' - who Itte described as super-skilled and highly accomplished.
"He's phenomenal, so you're not going to be able to get someone in to emulate Israel," Itte said.
"We're going to get people close, but it's not really going to happen, so we worry more about Rob being Rob and trying to be his best.
"We look at some idiosyncrasies that he [Adesanya] has, but he may not be the same [on Sunday].
"For example, Rob versus [Yoel] Romero 2 - Romero, instead of coming out southpaw, came out orthodox."
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AAP
