Tag: Israel Adesamya

VIDEO: Israel Adesanya Fails To Replicate Alex Pereira’s Iconic UFC 300 Feat

After being one of the most dominant UFC champions ever, Israel Adesanya has now lost four of his last five fights in the promotion. While the losses to Alex Pereira, Dricus Du Plessis and Sean Strickland came in title fights, Nassourdine Imavov became the first fighter to beat “The Last Stylebender” in a non-title fight. […]

After being one of the most dominant UFC champions ever, Israel Adesanya has now lost four of his last five fights in the promotion. While the losses to Alex Pereira, Dricus Du Plessis and Sean Strickland came in title fights, Nassourdine Imavov became the first fighter to beat “The Last Stylebender” in a non-title fight.

Unsurprisingly, Adesanya dominated the first round with a tactical approach. Using his reach advantage and feints, the former UFC middleweight champion landed a few heavy kicks on the body and limbs, keeping his opponent unsettled.

Izzy, who usually starts slow and relies on counter-striking, could be seen putting the pressure on Imavov at UFC Saudi Arabia. “The Sniper” only landed a solid uppercut in the first round and failed to secure any takedowns.

Things took a sudden turn in the second round, though. Adesanya started with a high pace yet again but suffered an eye poke 20 seconds into the round. Marc Goddard stepped in to check if the former champ wanted time to recover but was asked to let the fight continue.

To everyone’s surprise, Imavov knocked down Adesanya in the very next exchange after the eye poke and got the TKO win. After the fight, fans could not help but draw parallels to Pereira’s UFC 300 main event against Jamahal Hill. The challenger hit “Poatan” in the groin which led to Herb Dean stepping in like Marc Goddard to check on the affected fighter.

Just like Izzy, Pereira shrugged away the referee and in the very next exchange, knocked out Hill with a left hook to defend his UFC light heavyweight championship. Considering “Poatan” and “The Last Stylebender” are long-time rivals, it was interesting for many fans how both of them stopped the referee from intervening but got completely opposite results right away.

The tweets embedded below show just two of the many fans who believe that Izzy failed to recreate Pereira’s iconic UFC 300 KO win:

As usual, Adesanya has no excuses for his KO loss to Imavov at UFC Saudi Arabia. And of course, he wasn’t trying to copy his former rival by not allowing Goddard to stop the action during his fight. However, considering his long history with Pereira, it’s nonetheless amusing how their stories were intertwined yet again.

Israel Adesanya Weighs In On Sean Strickland’s ‘Silly’ Striking-Only Proposal For Dricus Du Plessis At UFC 312

Israel Adesanya isn’t buying into Sean Strickland’s stand-and-bang ultimatum for reigning UFC Middleweight Champion Dricus Du Plessis ahead of their rematch. Du Plessis and Strickland are set to reignite their rivalry in the main event of UFC 312 on Feb. 8 at the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia. This highly anticipated rematch comes a […]

Israel Adesanya isn’t buying into Sean Strickland’s stand-and-bang ultimatum for reigning UFC Middleweight Champion Dricus Du Plessis ahead of their rematch.

Du Plessis and Strickland are set to reignite their rivalry in the main event of UFC 312 on Feb. 8 at the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia. This highly anticipated rematch comes a year after their intense first encounter at UFC 297 in January 2024, where “Stillknocks” clinched a hard-fought split decision to claim the 185-pound crown.

Their initial clash was a savage striking war, and Strickland is hell-bent on keeping it just as intense for their rematch.

In a fiery social media video earlier this month, “Tarzan” urged Du Plessis to “be a f**king man” and stick to the battle on the feet, dismissing any grappling exchanges when they meet in the “Land Down Under.”

The South African champion has already dismissed Strickland’s proposals as “ridiculous” and made it clear that he’s unafraid to bring a full spectrum of skills to the Octagon.

“The Last Stylebender” shares a history with both men and will be keeping a close eye on the UFC 312 headliner, having faced them in his last two outings before shifting his focus to Nassourdine Imavov for his return at UFC Saudi Arabia this Saturday.

During a recent interview with MMA Fighting, Adesanya shared his thoughts on Strickland’s striking-only proposal for Du Plessis. The seasoned former UFC middleweight champion trashed the outspoken American’s suggestion, pointing out that it reflects poorly on Strickland to try and remove an essential aspect of a MMA fight.

“That’s kind of silly,” Adesanya said. “It’s silly to say. I don’t think he means it because Dricus is good at what he does. Trying to take that away from him would be you’re not really proving you’re the best then.”

While the first encounter between Du Plessis and Strickland was a closely contested affair, Adesanya, drawing from his own experience, still backs Du Plessis to successfully defend his title at UFC 312.

“Look, I think Dricus is probably going to win that fight. He’s great at what he does.”