Robert Whittaker tells Israel Adesanya 'you can't hold a grudge on five-year-olds' in scathing assessment

Israel Adesanya ruffled quite a few feathers in the UFC world for his over-the-top celebrations following his win against Alex Pereira.

The Last Stylebender regained his middleweight championship after finally conquering his combat sports rival.

The new champ had suffered three losses on the trot to the Brazilian across kickboxing and MMA which undeniably weighed him.

It didn’t help the fact that he probably had visions of Pereira’s son mocking him back during their kickboxing days - something her certainly didn’t forget after finally knocking out the kid’s father.

After the shocking KO, the cold-as-ice arrow shooting celebration, and the inspiring promo; Izzy admits he was too petty not to clown Pereira's son in revenge. Absolutely hilarious. #UFC287 pic.twitter.com/jrAB7iMN3R

— 𝕵𝖚𝖘𝖙𝖎𝖓 𝕲𝖔𝖑𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙𝖑𝖞 (@justin_golight) April 9, 2023

Following his win, he went over to the cage pointed directly at Poatan’s son and fell to the floor mimicking his father’s fall to the ground, as well as a celebration the boy had previously done to mock Adesanya.

Yes, it was petty. But the Nigerian-born fighter didn’t care, it was his moment of redemption.

While many thought the kid was fair game, others weren’t too pleased with the lack of sportsmanship shown by the two-time middleweight champion.

One man who has since criticised Adesanya, is a former opponent of his - Robert Whittaker.

In an interview on The MMA Hour, the Australian said: “He admitted it himself, he’s a petty dude.

“But dude, you can’t hold a grudge on five-year-olds.

"If I held a grudge with every five-year-old that pissed me off, I’d be fighting for the next 40 years of my life.”

Robert Whittaker on Israel Adesanya mocking Alex Pereira's son: "Dude, you can’t hold a grudge on five-year-olds."

"If I held a grudge with every five-year-old that pissed me off, I’d be fighting for the next 40 years of my life.”

▶️ https://t.co/MDrvlse3UV pic.twitter.com/2GF2myI8jr

— MMAFighting.com (@MMAFighting) April 18, 2023

Some had praised New Zealander for admitting his pettiness, but for Whittaker that doesn’t make it okay.

He continued: “Can I just clarify something? He said he’s petty, he admitted it with such energy.

“To everyone listening and watching, that doesn’t make it a good thing.

“Don’t get confused, just because he does it and admits it like a champ doesn’t mean it’s a good thing - don’t be petty.”

Elsewhere in the interview the #2 ranked middleweight made his case for a third fight with the current champ, believing he can beat him this time around.

He said: “I’m in this game and he’s got the belt and I want to win. I want to take that from him. I’m going to beat him.

“Izzy fought Pereira four times over the course of his career. I’m only gonna need to fight Izzy three times because I will beat him that next time.

“I’m 100% confident that I will beat him that next time.”