"No one saw the announcement," Adesanya said on the way the fight was announced. "Bro, this is not how you announce a fight of this magnitude, but that's because we were doing some dealings in the back at that moment, so I just felt like the people doing that bit at the UFC dropped the ball."
The revelation came from Adesanya after it was announced he had re-signed with the promotion this week on a lucrative new multi-fight deal which is said to make him one of the highest paid mixed martial artists in history.
With a new deal and a (finally) signed bout agreement, Adesanya will step into the octagon on Sunday evening for his second-straight rematch, after beating Italian Marvin Vettori for a second time last June.
When it comes to the middleweight division, fights don't get any bigger than Adesanya vs Whittaker. As Whittaker said at a press conference on Friday: "You can see the level difference between us and the rest of the division."
In their first encounter, Adesanya claimed a second round knockout, catching Whittaker rushing into range and planting him with a combination of punches.
Speaking about what he expects in their rematch, Adesanya said it was clear Whittaker would come into the bout better than he was the first time around.
"He has matured, like he said. I expect him to be more patient, but guess what? So am I," Adesanya said. "I will be patient. I've got the belt. If he wants the belt, come get the belt. I don't have to do shit. I just have to wait for him to do work.
"This could be me just telling fibs as well; I might have my own secret plans that I want to do. But Rob is going to come different. He's not going to come in like the first time because he'd be silly to do so. The same shots I caught him with in the first fight leading to the knockout, I was already catching him with them in the first round.
"I don't want to give too much away, but I've got three ways I can win this fight."
