Israel Adesanya. Photo / Photosport.co.nz
New Zealand UFC star Israel Adesanya has copped it from two angles with his weekend's opponent Robert Whittaker and UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones taking shots at the outspoken star.
Adesanya's claims that he is getting paid more than Aussie middleweight champion Whittaker for Sunday's UFC 243 have been shut down by the defending titleholder's team.
Interim middleweight titleholder Adesanya has been vocal with his criticisms of Whittaker in the lead up to the event.
But speaking to The Daily Telegraph earlier this week, Adesanya said he had proof he was getting paid more than Whittaker.
The Nigerian-born star also claimed he was a bigger draw than Whittaker and lashed the New Zealand-born Aussie for not selling the fight.
"If I'm doing all the f***ing work in this b****, I should definitely be paid more than him," Adesanya said.
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But Whittaker is never one to be drawn into the criticisms and hit back through his manager Titus Day.
"How would he know, for a start it's confidential so he wouldn't know anyway, so he's just talking s***," Whittaker's manager Titus Day told AAP.
"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."
And Whittaker's team wasn't the only one hitting out at Adesanya.
The outspoken New Zealander was also whacked by light heavyweight champion Jon Jones.
Jones and Adesanya have fought openly on social media with the light heavyweight star even offering his support to Whittaker if he wanted it in an interview with foxsports.com.au in June.
In the lead up to the weekend's fight, Adesanya said "Raiders Stadium, Las Vegas, that's where it's going to happen" when talking about a potential fight with Jones, floating "early 2021".
Asked if he thought Jones was the same fighter he was, the 30-year-old rising star was unequivocal.
"Nah, I saw him live," Adesanya told themaclife.com on YouTube. "When you see someone live, you know. No, not the same."
Adesanya was referring to Jones' fight with Thiago Santos, which came down to a split decision as he defended his title.
Jones was not about to let that slide, taking to Twitter to lash Adesanya and his last fight, a unanimous decision win over Kelvin Gastelum, where he snared the interim middleweight championship.
"@stylebender Keep convincing yourself that one day you'll be ready to face a boss like me," Jones tweeted. "I'll keep convincing myself that when that day comes, I will make you my absolute b****.
You said you saw me fight in person against Thiago and I didn’t look the same. I also got to see you fight KG, didn’t need to be in person. You were almost knocked out on more than one occasion
— BONY (@JonnyBones) October 2, 2019
Thiago couldn’t even touch my face and he grew up kickboxing. You only got to see my striking that night and now you’re convinced you’ll beat me? Let me see you in a wrestling match or a jujitsu tournament, you probably wouldn’t even place.
— BONY (@JonnyBones) October 2, 2019
"I can see you're starting to sip your own Kool-Aid, I know how it feels, I've been there before. Only I was around 23. Just don't become delusional kid, f*** with a beast like me and I will expose you."
The Jones-Adesanya rivalry kicked off in 2019, and included Jones, in an interview with foxsports.com.au, offering his services to Whittaker if the Australian wanted help preparing for the Marvel Stadium headliner.
The show is expected to attract over 50,000 spectators and could eclipse the UFC world record attendance of 56,214 set at the same venue in 2015.