“The door’s open” – Israel Adesanya plans on achieving the impossible by moving up to the heavyweight division
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Israel Adesanya celebrates winning the title; his manager, TIm Simpson watches his athlete in the background
Everyone thought Israel Adesanya would let no damage befall his undefeated record. Alas, as all good things come to and, so did his then 20-0 record. However, it fell to unlikely opponent Jan Blachowicz.
Israel Adesanya is one of, if not the most sophisticated striker the UFC has ever witnessed, alongside Anderson Silva. His lean figure allows him to catch his opponents when they least expect to be caught and get out of firing range even before they know where to land their shots. As Adesanya himself has said, fighting is like “a game of chess.”
Many fans labeled his and Anderson Silva’s fight a snooze-fest, but what they failed to recognize is that, if we unpack the elaborate layering, both “The Last Stylebender” and “The Spider” play a similar game. Therefore, it was hard for either of them to fully utilize their similar skill sets against each other.
It did not take long for Adesanya to claim the belt after entering the UFC. Already billed as a future megastar, the Kiwi-Nigerian fighter endured a slug-fest to defeat Kelvin Gastelum, before brutally finishing off the always-cheerful Aussie Robert Whittaker. Following the two amazing fights, and a belt on his waist, Adesanya’s spectacular TKO of Paulo Costa and his antics right after thrilled the entire world, and gave him household name recognition.
“He has business to attend” – Manager says Israel Adesanya is focused on the middleweight division for now
Israel Adesanya faces long-time nemesis, Alex Pereira, at MSG, New York on the 12th of November, in a fight being billed as a mega-event. The script has written itself, with Adesanya being bested by the Brazilian kickboxer on two previous occasions, and Izzy clarifying that he “just got caught.” The fight also sets Adesanya up to deliver a blockbuster performance, after coming under fire recently for merely outpointing his title challengers.
Should he be successful come the 12th of November, Adesanya already has his eyes on several other Middleweights, with Sean Strickland and Jack Hermannsson’s names being thrown into the mix.
Israel Adesanya was touted as being the next two-division champion, before being out-wrestled by Polish Jan Blachowicz in 2021, ending his win streak, unbeaten record, and all champ-champ talk for a bit. This, according to his manager, has not stifled the Nigerian’s ambition to move up a division and challenge for the belt.
His manager commented that “He’s mentioned that he wants to go back up to 205.” However, he also made sure Adesanya’s primary focus is known, that being to surpass Silva as the best Middleweight ever, saying that “He wants to go down as the greatest of all time (at middleweight), and there’s opportunity to stay there and keep fighting.”
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As has been touched upon multiple times, Adesanya was not successful in his first attempt to go up a weight division. However, that is not to say a champion should just give up and pack up shop the moment they encounter a loss – champions are made of different mettle. However, his manager added in the interview that “The door’s open to light heavyweight, even heavyweight.”
This comes as slightly unexpected, as Israel Adesanya’s primary source of success at 185 lb. is his reach and height advantage – these dimensions were completely neutralized when he fought Jan Blachowicz. Moving up two divisions means his reach and height will no longer serve as an advantage, but his lean figure might pose a disadvantage in the fiercest division in the UFC. Especially against heavyweights like Cyril Gane, who can switch anyone’s lights off with one punch, but can also feint like a Middleweight, Adesanya’s weapons seem to be limited.
Will Israel Adesanya move up one, or even two weight classes successfully, to become UFC’s newest champ-champ? These questions will be answered only after the events of UFC 281, and his success will be determined by first getting past Alex Pereira.
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Udayan Mukherjee
(382 Articles Published)