Israel Adesanya has taken pre-fight trash talking to a new bizarre level, taunting Aussie rival Robert Whittaker with a non-fungible token of his knockout in the pair's 2019 bout.
In October 2019, Adesanya comprehensively dispatched Whittaker at UFC 243 in Melbourne, winning via second-round knockout to claim the middleweight title.
As the pair prepare to face off again at UFC 271 on Sunday (NZ time), Adesanya has used his previous victory to mock Kiwi-born Australian Whittaker.
At the pre-fight press conference at Houston, Adesanya sported a necklace containing an NFT, showing his victory over Whittaker on a loop forever.
An NFT uses the blockchain to show the ownership of a digital item, such as illustrations, videos or photographs.
But not content with his first victory over Whittaker, Adesanya claims he intends adding another win to his NFT haul.
"This is a moment from the UFC NFT strike collection," Adesanya says. "This is a moment from UFC 243, when I took out Rob Whittaker.
"It's on replay, it just shows the moment over and over and over and over and over again, but this weekend, I'm looking to create another moment. This is fun."
Adesanya's encounter with Whittaker will be his second rematch in the UFC, after repeat victories over Marvin Vettori in 2018 and 2021.
And while the titleholder concedes Whittaker has improved since the pair's first meeting two years ago, the Kiwi-Nigerian fighter is confident history will repeat itself on Sunday.
"By beating them, you're in their head," he adds. "I was already there anyway, but you're already in their head, once you beat them the way [I did].
"The way I did it last time, you can't get over that. It takes a lot of work.
"He's done the work, he's admitted what I was telling him, what I was saying through 2019 leading up to the fight.
"I was calling it as I see it, and I'm glad he's finally admitted I was right.
"I still have properties in there, rent free."
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