Robert Whittaker has admitted part of him likes Israel Adesanya ahead of UFC 271 despite their bitter rivalry before their first fight.
Whittaker's nine-fight winning streak was snapped when he lost the middleweight title to Adesanya in 2019, being knocked out in the second round.
'The Reaper' later admitted the pre-fight trash talk with Adesanya got to his head and affected his performance on the night.
He has rebounded by winning his last three fights, outpointing top contenders in Darren Till, Jared Cannonier and Kelvin Gastelum.
Now heading into his rematch against Adesanya on February 11 with a different mindset, Whittaker said part of him likes the undisputed champion.
"I'll let bygones be bygones, I half like Izzy at this point now," Whittaker laughed. "I think I've let go of my ego, I know he's mentioned it before and I think I did.
"Letting go of that and just enjoying the fight itself, focusing on other things has just made me much more chill and calm.
"I know why I'm doing things, how I want to do things and where I want this to end."
Adesanya has defended his middleweight belt three times since beating Whittaker, most recently outpointing Marvin Vettori at UFC 263.
'The Last Stylebender' missed out on the light heavyweight title against Jan Blachowicz last March and suffered his first professional loss, being out-struck and outwrestled over five rounds.
Whittaker thinks Blachowicz set out the "blueprint" on how to beat Adesanya, but realises the weight difference between the pair played a big part in the fight.
Adesanya has promised to f*** Whittaker up again at UFC 271 and said the Australian should write "his own blueprint" on how to beat him.
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And Whittaker thinks his mental state before facing Adesanya in 2019 was the build-up of several "little things" that took a toll on him.
"I think I was out of character for that fight, the rivalry and the discussion between Australia and New Zealand, a lot of stuff affected my mental performance going into it," he continued.
"It certainly affected me on the night, I think I let it all get to me and I wasn't in a great headspace to be dealing with all that.
"It was a combination of a lot of little things just chipping away at me. The rivalry, the media., people behind it, comments of fans and the interactions we had with interviews.
"I wasn't in a good space to take all that on board. The fact I was burnt out, everything just kind of got to me and helped it overflow."
