Israel Adesanya returns to the Octagon at UFC 305 after taking some time off to put bad memories of his most recent outing behind him. Adesanya lost his middleweight title to Sean Strickland in one of the biggest title fight upsets in UFC history last year at UFC 293. Whilst the challenger had a great […]
Adesanya lost his middleweight title to Sean Strickland in one of the biggest title fight upsets in UFC history last year at UFC 293.
Whilst the challenger had a great night in general, the defining moment of the fight was when he caught and dropped “The Last Stylebender” in the first round but was unable to get the finish.
This came as such a shock to many fans who felt like Strickland simply wouldn’t be on the same level as the champion, when it came to the striking exchanges.
Dricus Du Plessis Says He Would’ve Finished Israel Adesanya With The Same Strike
Dricus Du Plessis is much more of a power striker than Strickland, who he defeated earlier this year to become the middleweight champion.
Whilst the former champ may be very accurate and defensively sound, “Stillknocks” has the momentum and force to stop any opponent and that gives him confidence ahead of August 17.
Du Plessis believes that he can close the show on Adesanya in their heated grudge match in Perth, especially if he’s able to land something similar to the strike Strickland landed last year.
He spoke in a recent interview with mainevent on Fox Sports about how “The Last Stylebender” wouldn’t have made it out of the first round if it was him in there that night.
“If I land that shot that Sean Strickland landed, the fight is over right there, 100%. We know that Strickland’s not a power puncher. I’ve felt, and Strickland’s a great boxer, his boxing is really really good. Very awkward and amazing jab, he throws that 1-2 and he does it great but he doesn’t have that starch power and he put him down. I honestly thought the fight was over but if I catch him with that shot then it’s over.”
Dana White still plans on bringing the UFC to both Spain and Africa. Following Saturday’s lackluster card in Manchester,…
Dana White still plans on bringing the UFC to both Spain and Africa.
Following Saturday’s lackluster card in Manchester, the outspoken CEO offered an update on his tentative plans to promote events in both Spain and Africa. White revealed that while he’s still working out details for an event in Africa, they’ve hit a bit of a snag when trying to book a venue in Ilia Topuria’s home country.
Dana White: The problem with Topuria and Spain is Spain's venues are so back up since Covid. They have so many events going on, it's hard to get a venue there.pic.twitter.com/Cx1r1LXblY
“The problem with Topuria and Spain is Spain’s venues are so backed up since COVID,” White told TNT Sports.”They have so many events going on. It’s hard to get a venue there. But when we can, we will definitely do that” (h/t Sportskeeda).
Immediately following Topuria’s second-round knockout of Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 298, Dana White expressed interest in running an event at the 80,000-seat Santiago Bernabéu, home of Spain’s Real Madrid football team.
Dana White details plans to run shows in Africa
Dana White isn’t stopping there. He also plans to take the UFC to South Africa, home of current middleweight world champion Dricus Du Plessis. White also made it clear that he plans on bringing the promotion to the rest of Africa as well.
“I wanna go to Africa. We’re still working on an Africa fight; not just South Africa, but Africa,” White added. “You know, ’cause everybody will make the argument, ‘If you go to South Africa, that’s not really Africa.’ That’s Africa to me. But we’ll still look to go to other parts of Africa. It’s important to me.”
Du Plessis will put his 185-pound title on the line for the first time on Saturday, August 17 when the promotion heads back to Perth, Australia for UFC 305. In the main event of the evening, ‘Stillknocks’ will try to fend off former two-time titleholder Israel Adesanya who will be looking to make history as the division’s first-ever three-division champion.
DDP’ took the title home following a closely-contested split decision win over Sean Strickland at UFC 296 in January. Their clash in The Land Down Under will be Adesanya’s first fight since coming up short against Strickland nearly a year ago.
Belal Muhammad earned at least one new supporter in the form of Israel Adesanya thanks to his championship crowning at UFC 304. Muhammad upset the odds against home country favorite Leon Edwards to emerge from this past weekend’s pay-per-view event in Manchester, England, with the welterweight title in his possession. Amid doubt from plenty in […]
The new champ quickly began his ‘I told you so’ tour in the aftermath of his title win, and among those who could expect a visit given their pre-UFC 304 thoughts on Muhammad’s chances is former two-time middleweight champ Adesanya…
Adesanya Will ‘Remember The Name’ After Muhammad’s UFC 304 Triumph
During a video recently uploaded to his FREESTYLEBENDER YouTube channel, Adesanya reacted live to the major matchups that played out in the UK this past weekend.
Having been proved wrong, the Nigerian-New Zealander had nothing but praise for the victorious Muhammad, noting that he is now a fan of the newly crowned welterweight kingpin.
“He put him on his head! Bro, that rocked him. His head, that was bad. Look at it. That’s bad, bro! Spiked him,” Adesanya said after Muhammad dropped Edwards on his head. “Jesus Christ, Belal. Even if he loses this fight, I’m a fan of him now. I knew his name, of course, but I’ll remember the name.
“Bro, what the f*ck. Yo, Belal’s nice. What Michael (Bisping) just said; he’s fighting fearlessly. He’s fighting in Leon’s home country, coming for his belt, and fighting like this,” Adesanya continued. “Leon knows. But that, what a rally at the end though. … What a story though, Belal, to do that after coming back from the eye poke, now this in his (Edwards’) backyard. Everybody doubting him, including me. Give it up to him, what a story.”
Adesanya certainly doesn’t mark the only doubter whom Muhammad proved wrong on fight night in Manchester. “Remember the Name” made good on his promise to dominate the champ in his backyard — a prediction that not many had entertained pre-fight.
Having extended his unbeaten streak and completed his goal of having the gold wrapped around his waist, Muhammad will now turn his attention to a first defense and beginning to build his championship legacy.
Former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya has a strong idea of how Saturday’s main event title fight in Manchester will play out. Mixed martial arts’ leading promotion is back across the pond this week to stage its first card in the English city of Manchester in close to a decade. And among the home fighters […]
Following successful defenses of his gold opposite Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington in 2023, “Rocky” is next tasked with getting the better of Belal Muhammad at the second time of trying.
While their first fight back in 2021 ended in a no contest due to an accidental eye poke, the champ believes he was firmly en route to a knockout at the Apex. And with that in mind, the Jamaica-born Brit expects to finish the job inside the Co-op Live this weekend.
In that regard, he has the support of one notable former two-time UFC champ…
Adesanya ‘Not Hating On Belal’, But Sees A Finish For Edwards At UFC 304
When it comes to the main event, Adesanya had little doubt backing his fellow Chosen Advisory-managed fighter to emerge with the gold still in his possession at UFC 304, even predicting that he’ll get the job done before the championship rounds.
“Belal’s got pressure, man. It just seems like he’s able to get to people and put his will on them,” Adesanya said. “But I’ll tell you one thing, this is a different version — Leon just seems like he’s on a massacre right now; he’s on a run. Leon might finish him. I think Leon finishes this fight.
“I’m trying to see how Belal can win this fight. This seems like a bad match for Belal. I’m not hating on Belal or anything, I’m just trying to see what’s his path to victory in this,” Adesanya continued. “Striking, Leon’s got it. Grappling, you wanna lean towards Belal but Leon is right up there. It’s Leon’s fight to win, Leon’s fight to lose. … Leon’s too crisp compared to Belal. He’s just too sharp. … Leon by knockout in the third round, second or third round.”
Edwards will look to make Adesanya’s prediction a reality come fight night, when he’s vowed to end Muhammad’s championship ambitions inside the distance with an emphatic performance and stoppage on home soil.
According to his long-time City Kickboxing training partner, Dan Hooker, former two-time middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya has ballooned up…
According to his long-time City Kickboxing training partner, Dan Hooker, former two-time middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya has ballooned up to 230lbs ahead of his title fight at UFC 305 next month – and his putting some serious power behind his shots in sparring.
Last time out, the Nigerian-Kiwi headlined UFC 293 in September of last year, dropping a one-sided unanimous decision loss to the outspoken current number one contender, Sean Strickland, in a massive upset victory for the now-former champion.
“Israel (Adesanya) is – I can’t even bother sparring him at the moment,” Dan Hooker told Submission Radio. “Like the way he’s hitting me, I think he’s like 105 kilos (230lbs). “I’m just like, ‘F*cking just kick like, just kick me in the leg’. And I was like, ‘Ah get f*cked’. I was just like, nah. Yeah, like that. He’s had some time off, he was carrying some injuries. He spent a lot of time just packing on some size and like a lot of strength, bro.”
“And he’s just hitting like a truck, man” Hooker continued. “Yeah, I can’t even be bothered sparring him, like he’s hitting too hard. So, I can’t wait until he can get out there. So if you think you can just walk in his front door and raid his fridge, I think you’re in for a rude awakening.”
Who do you think wins at UFC 305 next month: Dricus du Plessis or Israel Adesanya?
Welcome to MMA News Today, a daily feature running down the most interesting stories in the world of mixed martial arts. For July 15, 2024, we’re taking a look at: Dan Hooker Says Israel Adesanya Is Hitting Too Hard For Them To Spar One Another When Israel Adesanya returns at UFC 305 to try and recapture the middleweight […]
Welcome to MMA News Today, a daily feature running down the most interesting stories in the world of mixed martial arts. For July 15, 2024, we’re taking a look at:
Hooker says Adesanya sparring isn’t on his wish list right now
Anik never lets his relationships affect his commentary
Blaydes says he’s keeping things simple ahead of Aspinall rematch
Dan Hooker Says Israel Adesanya Is Hitting Too Hard For Them To Spar One Another
When Israel Adesanya returns at UFC 305 to try and recapture the middleweight title against Dricus Du Plessis, he will do so off the back of his longest break between fights since signing with the promotion.
In a recent interview with Submission Radio, his City Kickboxing teammate Dan Hooker spoke about how Adesanya has been bulking up outside of training camp.
The lightweight contender, who has sparred with the former middleweight champion for a long time, said that his fellow New Zealander is starting to pack too much of a punch for him to trade shots with.
“I can’t even be bothered sparring him at the moment like the way he’s hitting. I think he’s like 105 kilos [around 230 pounds], I’m just like f******, kicked me in the leg and I was like ‘get f*****!’. He’s had some time off, he was carrying some injuries, he spent a lot of time just packing on some size and like a lot of strength bro and he’s hitting like a truck man. I can’t even be bothered sparring him… like he’s hitting too hard.”
Jon Anik Says Relationship With Belal Muhammad Won’t Affect His UFC 304 Commentary
It’s only natural for UFC commentators to have relationships and friendships with some of the fighters that are signed to the roster.
This is especially difficult in a sport like MMA where the highs are so high and the lows are so low but Jon Anik always looks to separate his work from his personal feelings.
Anik spoke in a recent interview with InsideFighting about how he always looks to serve the moment and both fighters as best as he can, regardless of whether he has personal connections to them.
“No, I feel like once the athlete hits the tunnel, any of those types of feeling or emotions go away. As I’ve said repeatedly, Dominick Cruz is probably the guy I’m closest to, I mean Belal’s obviously right there on his heels as are other athletes.
“you establish a lot of interpersonal relationship and you can’t help that but it certainly doesn’t affect the call. I can assure you and everybody else if Leon Edwards head kicks Belal Muhammad into oblivion, my call is going to reflect that and there was nothing hard about me screaming with veins popping out of my mouth, ‘Stipe gets his revenge’, even though he did it against Daniel Cormier.”
Curtis Blaydes Isn’t Adjusting His Approach For Fighting Tom Aspinall At UFC 304
In the co-main event in Manchester, Tom Aspinall’s interim heavyweight title will be on the line when he faces Curtis Blaydes in a rematch.
Blaydes, who is now a 22-fight veteran, has faced the majority of the top names at heavyweight at this stage.
Rather than working specifically on his opponent’s approach, Blaydes simply looks to bring the best version of himself to England in order to come away with the win.
“Conditioning (has been the focus in camp). That’s the same old,” Blaydes said. “I don’t adjust for anyone. I have prepared for this fight the same way I prepare for everyone. I don’t like to add extra adjustments, extra things to think about. There’s already a whole lot, we don’t need to add anything else.
“Just a normal, standard fight camp,” Blaydes continued. “Eight weeks of sparring, drilling, running, icing; normal stuff.”
Dana White still plans on bringing the UFC to both Spain and Africa. Following Saturday’s lackluster card in Manchester,…
According to his long-time City Kickboxing training partner, Dan Hooker, former two-time middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya has ballooned up…
