Israel Adesanya shocked MMA fans around the world after he was pictured alongside his former UFC rival Robert Whittaker.
The two ex-UFC champions were spotted sparring in training footage released by Adesanya on Sunday.
Adesanya was crowned the UFC‘s middleweight champion for the first time after knocking out Whittaker in October 2019.
Their blockbuster fight headlined UFC 243 in Australia, as both New Zealand representatives threw down in an all-Oceanic region title fight.
Whittaker was born and raised in New Zealand but fights out of Autralia, while Nigerian native Adesanya moved to the South Pacific island when he was young.
The event holds the record for the most attended UFC card in the organisation’s history as 57,127 fans packed into the Marvel Stadium in Melbourne.
MMA fans were quick to react to Adesanya’s post online as both men looked to be in great spirits kick starting their 2025 campaign.
One took to X and said: “This is crazy because Rob said he really does not like Izzy.”
While another added: “This honestly brought a smile to my face.”
A third responded: “Love this collab, their story is over, start of a new friendship.”
And a fourth said: “That’s awesome. I like seeing fighters leave the animosity in the ring.”
Adesanya went on to defend his 185-pound strap a further five times after his famous knockout win over Whittaker, beating the likes of Yoel Romero, Paulo Costa and Whittaker again in their rematch three years later.
‘The Last Stylebender’ dropped his middleweight title to Alex Pereira in November 2022, but won it back from Brazil’s MMA superstar five months later in their rematch.
That victory marked Adesanya’s last in the UFC as he proceeded to lose consecutive title bouts to Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis.
Now, Adesanya takes on France’s Nassourdine Imavov in his first non-title fight in six years.
‘The Last Stylebender’ was submitted by Du Plessis in his last bout at UFC 305 in August, 2024.
This came just over one year after he was shockingly defeated by No.1 middleweight contender Strickland at UFC 293.
Adesanya’s coach has revealed that he is doing things ‘quite differently’ ahead of the former two-time middleweight champion’s next fight, and it’s clear to see sparring with Whittaker is part of the plan.
“There’s a few things that I’m doing quite differently with Izzy for this fight,” Adesanya’s coach Eugene Bareman told Combat TV.
“They’re a lot more drastic to what I’m usually accustomed to doing.”
Bareman led Adesanya to world championship status in 2019, the same year he was named the UFC coach of the Year.
Adesanya has competed in 14 successive UFC pay-per-view cards over the past six years.
But, interestingly, this will be the Nigerian-born New Zealander’s first fight on a non PPV card since 2018.
His fight with ‘The Sniper’ is part of a UFC Fight Night card at The Venue in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and also features Shara Magomedov facing London’s Michael Page in the co-main event.
