Tag: Israel Adesanya

UFC 305 Press Conference Highlights & Faceoffs: Featuring Dricus Du Plessis, Israel Adesanya, Dan Hooker, Tai Tuivasa, & More

We’re deep into UFC 305 fight week, meaning it was time for the top fighters set to be in action on August 17 to take to the stage and answer some questions. The MMA leader’s latest numbered event takes place at the RAC Arena in Perth, Australia, where the main attraction of the promotion’s trip […]

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We’re deep into UFC 305 fight week, meaning it was time for the top fighters set to be in action on August 17 to take to the stage and answer some questions.

The MMA leader’s latest numbered event takes place at the RAC Arena in Perth, Australia, where the main attraction of the promotion’s trip Down Under will see UFC Middleweight Champion Dricus Du Plessis put his belt on the line in a grudge match against Israel Adesanya.

Setting the stage for the headliners will be Perth’s own Steve Erceg and Adesanya’s fellow City Kickboxing standout Kai Kara-France. The former will look to bounce back from his narrow title defeat to Alexandre Pantoja in Brazil this past May, while his Kiwi opponent returns over a year on from a setback opposite Amir Albazi last time out.

Also of note on the main card is the chance for Dan Hooker to return to the lightweight title picture against top-five contender Mateusz Gamrot, a likely guaranteed knockout when Tai Tuivasa and Jairzinho Rozenstruik collide, and the comeback of “The Leech” Li Jingliang.

As is customary during major fight weeks, the athletes took to the stage on Friday afternoon local time for the pre-fight press conference. The UFC 305 edition saw the final eight fighters set to be in action with mic in hand.

Check out a stream of the presser below via the UFC’s official YouTube channel, followed by the highlights and faceoffs.

UFC 305 Pre-Fight Press Conference Stream

UFC 305 Press Conference Highlights

UFC 305 Press Conference Faceoffs

Continue Reading UFC 305 Press Conference Highlights & Faceoffs: Featuring Dricus Du Plessis, Israel Adesanya, Dan Hooker, Tai Tuivasa, & More at MMA News.

Classy Israel Adesanya Shows Appreciation For Alex Pereira’s Exploits At LHW: ‘I’m So Happy With What He’s Doing Right Now…’

In the time that Israel Adesanya has been away from the Octagon following the longest break of his UFC career, his former rival has been firing on all cylinders. “The Last Stylebender” is always going to have a special connection with Alex Pereira following the four times that they have competed against one another. While […]

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In the time that Israel Adesanya has been away from the Octagon following the longest break of his UFC career, his former rival has been firing on all cylinders.

“The Last Stylebender” is always going to have a special connection with Alex Pereira following the four times that they have competed against one another.

While Pereira may have beaten him three times with Adesanya getting revenge in their most recent rematch in MMA, he also has a lot of respect for his former foe.

He is set to return this weekend at UFC 305 to try and reclaim the title that he lost to Sean Strickland after winning the belt back from Pereira.

Since that huge victory against his Brazilian nemesis, Pereira seems to have only gotten stronger by moving up to light heavyweight, becoming champion and making himself one of the biggest stars in the promotion.

Israel Adesanya Shows Love To His Former Rival Alex Pereira

Adesanya doesn’t hold a grudge against Pereira due to their history with one another and the same can be said for “Poatan”.

Both men have been very complimentary of one another now that their feud has been settled, at least, for the time being.

In a fight week interview with Daniel Cormier, Adesanya took the time to give props to the man that has caused him more problems inside the cage or ring than anyone else.

“I watched the Pereira fight again last night, it was on YouTube, and I was just like scrolling past and I watched it and there was certain sequences I was just like, I was making him move back. I was really pushing him back and for me, I’m so happy with what he’s doing right now, I’m like bro…”

After Cormier responded by asking, “Can you believe how good this dude is?”, to which Adesanya made it very clear that he knows better than almost anyone just how good Pereira is.

“I know! I fought him four times! I f****** know! Bro, every time I fought him, I knew I could get him till he got me and then now, here we are.”

Read also: VIDEO: Israel Adesanya, Dricus Du Plessis, Dan Hooker, & More Complete Open Workouts Ahead Of UFC 305

Continue Reading Classy Israel Adesanya Shows Appreciation For Alex Pereira’s Exploits At LHW: ‘I’m So Happy With What He’s Doing Right Now…’ at MMA News.

‘Big’ John McCarthy Admonishes Israel Adesanya For Previous In-Octagon Lack Of Conduct: ‘I Would Have Taken Points From Him!’

“Big” John McCarthy recently took Israel Adesanya to task, criticizing the former UFC middleweight champion for his past lapses in Octagon etiquette. “The Last Stylebender” is slated to challenge reigning titleholder Dricus Du Plessis in the long-awaited main event of UFC 305, set to unfold this weekend at the iconic RAC Arena in Perth, Western […]

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“Big” John McCarthy recently took Israel Adesanya to task, criticizing the former UFC middleweight champion for his past lapses in Octagon etiquette.

“The Last Stylebender” is slated to challenge reigning titleholder Dricus Du Plessis in the long-awaited main event of UFC 305, set to unfold this weekend at the iconic RAC Arena in Perth, Western Australia.

Adesanya is widely regarded as one of the most accomplished middleweight champions in UFC history, boasting an impressive five successful title defenses. However, he’s just as well known for his flair and flamboyance inside and outside the Octagon, where his antics have become almost as famous as his fighting style.

The Nigerian-born Kiwi is equally notorious for his sharp-tongued trash talk, a skill he uses to rattle his opponents. A standout moment occurred at UFC 290 in July 2023, when Adesanya stormed into the Octagon and unleashed a tirade of profanity-laced insults at Du Plessis, ignited by the South African’s provocative comments questioning Adesanya’s African heritage.

Similarly, after his TKO win over Paulo Costa at UFC 253 in September 2020, “The Last Stylebender” stirred controversy with his post-fight antics, delivering a few humiliating parting “humps” from behind to his opponent.

“Big John,” often hailed as the pioneer of MMA refereeing, strongly disapproves of Adesanya’s behavior…

McCarthy Says He Would Have Corrected Adesanya’s Attitude

During a recent episode of the WEIGHING IN podcast with Josh Thomson, McCarthy weighed in on the brewing animosity between Du Plessis and Adesanya ahead of their clash at UFC 305. The seasoned MMA referee predicted that once the fight concludes, the tension between them will dissipate, and they will likely show mutual respect toward each other.

“The whole point is, like, all of that goes out the window when they fight,” McCarthy said. “It’s not about where you’re from, it’s about what you bring.”

McCarthy went on to voice his disdain for Adesanya’s post-fight actions with Costa, stating that had he been the referee for that bout, he would have unequivocally impressed upon Izzy that such behavior tarnishes the integrity of the sport.

“Izzy’s done a lot of things. If you take a look, he did the whole thing, if you remember, with Paulo Costa. Okay, I’m telling you right now, if I was refereeing that fight, I would have stopped the fight. I would have f**king taken him off. I would have f**king taken points from him. I would have f**king changed his attitude as far as ‘What do you think you’re doing?’ Okay? You don’t do things in that cage that are disrespectful to the sport, disrespectful to your promoter, disrespectful to the fans, disrespectful to your opponent. You don’t do it. You know, you get the chance to—you can punch him in the face, but you don’t have to do the other bullsh*t.”

Continue Reading ‘Big’ John McCarthy Admonishes Israel Adesanya For Previous In-Octagon Lack Of Conduct: ‘I Would Have Taken Points From Him!’ at MMA News.

Israel Adesanya Irritated by the UFC’s Attempts to Erase Francis Ngannou

Israel Adesanya Irritated by the UFC's Attempts to Erase Francis NgannouIsrael Adesanya does not approve of the UFC’s attempts to erase Francis Ngannou’s legacy. On Saturday, ‘The Last Stylebender’…

Israel Adesanya Irritated by the UFC's Attempts to Erase Francis Ngannou

Israel Adesanya does not approve of the UFC’s attempts to erase Francis Ngannou’s legacy.

On Saturday, ‘The Last Stylebender’ will make his return to the Octagon in a bid to become a three-time middleweight world champion. Standing in his way will be the division’s reigning king, Dricus Du Plessis, who is primed to bag his first successful defense and take the title back home to South Africa.

Adesanya vs. DDP

Undoubtedly cheering on Adesanya will be former UFC heavyweight champ Ngannou who remains close friends with the ‘Stylebender’ despite walking away from the promotion more than a year ago in search of greener pastures. Since his exit, you’d be hard-pressed to find any mention of Ngannou on UFC programming, but that hasn’t stopped CEO Dana White from taking a dig at the Cameroonian and his new employer, the Professional Fighters League, anytime the opportunity arises.

Earlier this year, the UFC went so far as to label Tafon Nchukwi the company’s first and only Cameroonian fighter during a live broadcast, completely ignoring the fact that Ngannou was born, raised, and lived a large portion of his life in the Central African country.

Francis Ngannou history erased

Another incident occurred earlier this week when fans noticed that a comment Adesanya made about Ngannou was seemingly edited out of the UFC 305 Embedded series. ‘Stylebender’ noticed it as well and was quick to voice his displeasure over his employer’s continued attempts to ignore Ngannou’s place in UFC history.

“I will support them as well, and also, you could never erase Francis’s history from the UFC.” Israel Adesanya stated in an interview with ESPN MMA. “I’ll say that. It’s part of history, we need to fix that. I don’t like that, I don’t like that we’re just trying to cut out a really important part of history.”

He continued, “It’s silly. It’s really silly. But we’ll fix that, that’s for later on. We will fix that” (h/t BJPenn.com).

Francis Ngannou makes his PFL debut in October

Eight weeks after Israel Adesanya attempts to settle some business with Dricus Du Plessis, Ngannou will make his long-awaited PFL debut. Headlining the promotion’s first superfight series on pay-per-view, ‘The Predator’ will square off with 2023 PFL heavyweight tournament winner Renan Ferreira.

Ferreira earned the opportunity to fight Ngannou with a 21-second knockout of Ryan Bader at the PFL vs. Bellator event in Riyadh last year.

Francis Ngannou

Overall, Ngannou is 17-3 in his professional mixed martial arts career with 11 of his victories coming by way of KO. He has not lost an MMA bout since July 2018.

‘Stop searching for my willy’: Dricus du Plessis asks Israel Adesanya ahead of UFC 305

‘Stop searching for my willy’: Dricus du Plessis asks Israel Adesanya ahead of UFC 305Slated to return to action this weekend in a grudge title fight with Israel Adesanya at UFC 305, middleweight…

‘Stop searching for my willy’: Dricus du Plessis asks Israel Adesanya ahead of UFC 305

Slated to return to action this weekend in a grudge title fight with Israel Adesanya at UFC 305, middleweight kingpin, Dricus du Plessis has made a special request to his foe to abstain from searching for pictures of his private parts.

du Plessis, the current undisputed middleweight gold holder, will return to action this weekend in Perth, Australia – in search of his first successful defense of the divisional title, having minted himself as the gold holder back in January.

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Landing a controversial split decision win, Pretoria native, du Plessis turned in a close win over common-foe, Sean Strickland over the course of five rounds in Canada.

Dricus du Plessis hits out at Israel Adesanya ahead of UFC 305

Sharing a distinct rivalry with Adesanya during their respective runs in the promotion, du Plessis was the subject of an anatomic jibe from the former two-time champion on social media this week – who appeared to mock his private parts.

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And as a result, during his media availability ahead of UFC 305, du Plessis urged Adesanya to refrain from doing such.

“Can I just say, Israel (Adesanya) stop searching for my willy on the internet,” Dricus du Plessis said before finishing up his media duties on Wednesday. “It’s weird, it’s very freaking weird, man. Come on.”

Engaging in a brutal rivalry ahead of UFC 305, du Plessis has boldly vowed to stop Adesanya inside just three rounds this weekend ‘Downunder’ in the pair’s grudge title fight. 

Israel Adesanya vs Alex Pereira

“I know his (Israel Adesanya) was a first round knockout,” Dricus du Plessis told UFC.com. “In that case, he needs to come forward and make it a dog fight, which I doubt and which I would love. If that Izzy shows up, this fight’s not going past round two. If the Izzy shows up that we’ve been seeing, I’ll be able to get him out of there in three rounds, for sure.”

Michael Chandler Names Who Has ‘Slight Advantage’ In Du Plessis vs. Adesanya: ‘I’ve Trained With Dricus A Couple Of Times…’ 

UFC lightweight contender Michael Chandler has assessed who has a narrow edge over their opponent leading into this weekend’s main event. The promotion is back Down Under to stage an event inside the RAC Arena in Perth, Australia, for the second consecutive year. After the country’s own Alexander Volkanovski topped proceedings in February 2023, UFC […]

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UFC lightweight contender Michael Chandler has assessed who has a narrow edge over their opponent leading into this weekend’s main event.

The promotion is back Down Under to stage an event inside the RAC Arena in Perth, Australia, for the second consecutive year. After the country’s own Alexander Volkanovski topped proceedings in February 2023, UFC 305 sees New Zealand’s Israel Adesanya as the local interest.

The former two-time middleweight champion and City Kickboxing standout will headline the upcoming pay-per-view in competition for the gold he formerly held, and which is now in the possession of Dricus Du Plessis.

While “The Last Stylebender” will enter as the favorite, “Stillknocks” is no stranger to upsetting the odds. And having done so against the likes of Robert Whittaker already, many are stuck on who to back at UFC 305.

Having trained with the champ himself, Chandler is in a similar predicament. But he ultimately sees one aspect that should give Adesanya the advantage on fight night…

Chandler: Adesanya’s ‘Mind & Fight IQ’ Higher Than Du Plessis’

During an interview with Lucky Block, Chandler looked ahead to this weekend’s PPV headliner, which finally brings a bitter and sensitive rivalry between Du Plessis and Adesanya to the Octagon.

The former three-time Bellator titleholder has experience witnessing Du Plessis’ talents firsthand after the South African spent time at Kill Cliff FC in Florida. Nevertheless, what he saw evidently wasn’t enough to convince him that the champ has a firm edge over Adesanya and his fight IQ.

“I’ve trained with Dricus a couple of times a little bit down in Florida, and I’m also friends with Izzy. That’s a tough one for me stylistically,” Chandler said. “If DDP can get those takedowns and hold Izzy down, which he’s done before, he can have some success. But does he get held down for five rounds? I don’t think that happens, so obviously Izzy needs to stay outside and throw those big shots.

“I think Izzy’s mind and fight IQ is higher than that of DDP’s, not that DDP has a small one. I just think Izzy’s is very, very high, and it’s why he’s had a tendency to not be a huge fan favorite stylistically,” Adesanya continued. “But the guy goes out there and wins, so it’ll be very interesting, but I think Izzy has the slight advantage in that fight.”

Having proven his and his team’s fight smarts with the southpaw approach they adopted to shock the world against Whittaker in July 2023, Du Plessis will look to prove his detractors wrong once again by making the necessary adjustments to prove a rude welcome back to action for Adesanya.

Continue Reading Michael Chandler Names Who Has ‘Slight Advantage’ In Du Plessis vs. Adesanya: ‘I’ve Trained With Dricus A Couple Of Times…’  at MMA News.