“I was just trying to score points. I wasn’t trying to knock him out,” Israel Adesanya reveals his game-plan for his fight at UFC 259

“I was just trying to score points. I wasn’t trying to knock him out,” Israel Adesanya reveals his game-plan for his fight at UFC 259

Israel Adesanya lost his first fight against Jan Blachowicz at UFC 259, and the fact that Izzy was losing the fight on all three judges’ scorecards was something that nobody expected.

In the post-fight interview, a reporter asked him if he was in favor of open scoring, he said, “When I heard it was the fourth round, I was, ‘Oh, sh*t, I thought it was the third,’” Adesanya said. “I was just having fun in there; I was so lucid. I felt myself I was smirking a little bit; I was smiling at certain things when I knew I had him.

“I wasn’t scoring the fight; I was just trying to score points. I wasn’t trying to knock him out, take him out, but I was trying to score points and just touch him, just keep touching him, because, trust me, I can drop this guy. I’ve done it before and I’ll do it again. I can drop these guys.”

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Izzy loves the idea of open scoring

Israel Adesanya

Women’s MMA promotion Invicta FC has trail-tested open scoring in their recent events where they tell the corner the scores after each round, and Izzy seems to like this idea.

When asked about this he said, “That’s smart. Let’s do that then. F*ck it. Why don’t we do it? That seems really smart. I like the fact that we have instant replay now. I don’t know why that took so long as well.

“I’m sure they have a group chat where they can all just text each other, [NAC] – I think that’s a really smart idea. Yeah, get it done. So that way, if my corner wants to tell me, ‘Yo, we need this round…’ Because I saw him getting tired. Trust me, I was fresh, he was getting tired, and the size played a factor in the fifth round.”

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