Rob Wilkinson’s last loss came against former UFC champion Israel Adesanya, and a lot has changed since then.
Wilkinson (16-2) welcomed Adesanya to the octagon at UFC 221 in 2018, but lost the bout by second-round TKO. The result marked his second-straight setback, and ultimately led to his UFC release.
Since then, however, Wilkinson has flourished. The 30-year-old Aussie has won five straight and punched his ticket to the 2022 PFL Championships event for a chance at $1 million and the light heavyweight title.
So what has changed? Wilkinson says training with former foe Adesanya helped open his eyes.
“I think some of it is from fighting Israel and going down and training at their gym and learning off those guys,” Wilkinson told MMA Junkie Radio. “I remember Israel and his team kind of said that they had turned down the UFC for a number of years before they accepted it, and when they are ready to sign with the UFC, they are ready to go straight to the top. And I used that time after getting released from the UFC – I thought I was ready to compete with those guys, but not to be fighting the top five guys in the world.
“So I’ve just used that time to make sure that’s what I’ve been training towards. So every fight I’ve had, it hasn’t been training for that person, I’ve been training to be the best fighter I can be and be ready to compete against the best guys in the world. I definitely learned a lot from fighting and training with Israel and his team. But yeah, just made sure I was ready for when this opportunity came that I was ready to take it.”
Wilkinson meets fellow UFC alum Omari Akhmedov (24-7-1) in the light heavyweight tournament finals Friday, Nov. 25 at Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York. The main card streams on ESPN+ pay-per-view (8 p.m. ET) after the undercard on ESPN+ (6 p.m. ET).
