Israel Adesanya thinks Mexico will dominate the MMA scene in the years to come.
On September 14, Mexican Independence Day will take over Sphere in Las Vegas for a UFC event unlike any other in the history of combat sports. 10 total fights are scheduled for UFC 306, officially known as Riyadh Season Noche UFC.
In the main event of the evening, ‘Sugar’ Sean O’Malley will defend his bantamweight belt against the division’s top-ranked contender, Merab Dvalishvili. Before that, Guadalajara native and reigning flyweight women’s champion Alexa Grasso will look to close her trilogy with Valentina Shevchenko on a high note as she meets ‘Bullet’ for a third consecutive time.
The event will also feature a slew of Mexican talent who hope to one day bring UFC gold to their home country.
During his preview of the second annual Noche UFC event, former two-time middleweight titleholder Israel Adesanya praised the talent already coming out of Mexico and believes it’s just a matter of time before the country’s athletes take over mixed martial arts.
“That from boxing, a lot of kids who would have maybe gone into boxing would start doing MMA and not just doing kickboxing or Jiu-Jitsu, like MMA as a whole and then it’s going to be, in a few generations you’ll see like a wave of Mexican fighters who have that Mexican spirit,” Adesanya said on YouTube. “You’ll see them like just dominating the UFC. Could be, who knows how many generations but kind of is already happening slowly.”
Israel Adesanya confident UFC 306 will deliver some ‘Crazy fights’
Closing his thoughts, ‘The Last Stylebender’ believes this weekend’s history-making card in Las Vegas will see the fighting spirit synonymous with Mexican fighters on full display.
“I look forward to it. I like seeing Mexicans, like I think even with this card, it’s going to bring that spirit. I think you’re going to see some crazy fights, some really crazy fights just cuz the essence of Mexican fighting” (h/t MMA News).
The full UFC 306 card is as follows:
Main Card (ESPN+ PPV)
- Sean O’Malley(c) vs. Merab Dvalishvili – Bantamweight Championship
- Alexa Grasso(c) vs. Valentina Shevchenko – Flyweight Championship
- Brian Ortega vs. Diego Lopes
- Esteban Ribovics vs. Daniel Zellhuber
- Ode Osbourne vs. Ronaldo Rodriguez
Prelims (ESPN News/ESPN+)
- Irene Aldana vs. Norma Dumont
- Ignacio Bahamondes vs. Manuel Torres
- Yazmin Jauregui vs. Ketlen Souza
- Joshua Van vs. Edgar Chairez
- Raul Rosas Jr. vs. Aoriqileng