Israel Adesanya Isn’t Short on Confidence, “I’ve been here for a long time, you guys are just late to the party”

Very few performances were quite as impressive as the debuting Israel ‘Stylebender’ Adesanya’s at UFC 221. The Nigerian born kickboxer put on a striking masterclass against Rob Wilkinson after stifling his takedown attempts in the first round. Adesanya systematically broke Wilkinson down with punches, kicks and elbows before he eventually wilted and the referee was forced to stop the action.

At only 28, Adesanya doesn’t care who he fights next because quite frankly as he told MMAJunkie…he believes the result will be the same no matter who he fights.

“I’ll fight anyone, anyone in the world. I’ve never really had my fights cherry-picked. A lot of these guys will get into the UFC or even combat sports, like boxing or kickboxing, they get their fights cherry-picked. Not me. All my fights were fighting the best people from different parts of the planet. Now I’m in the UFC, people are like, ‘Feed him some cans first or get him a top 10.’ I don’t really care. Either one is a fight for me. Whomever I fight, my paycheck is still the same. And I’m getting bonuses in all the rest of my fights.

Everyone just thinks they want to take me down. I welcome it. For me, I wanted to showcase my stand-up in the last fight just to make my debut, put a stamp on it, get those 50 (grand). But I welcome someone to try to take me down and keep me down. Or to see what I’m like on my back, see what I’m like on top. This is not just stand-up fighting. This is martial arts. You have to evolve and keep learning. And, man, you jump to MMA, there’s so much to learn. There’s what you know, there’s what you don’t know and there’s what you don’t know you don’t know, which is infinite. That’s why you want to keep learning.

No one’s really calling me out or saying anything yet. I know these boys, they’re just treating me like the Dark Lord, he who shall not be named. They feel like if they say my name, they might get the power. Or maybe they’re scared. I don’t really care. All I know is I’m working. If you want to beat me, you better do it yesterday, because every (expletive) day, I’m getting better. I’ve been there for a long time, you guys are just late to the party,”

Of Adesanya’s twelve MMA bouts…he has finished all of twelve of them by knockout or TKO. Something not seen too often.

So what exactly is next for this talented striker at 185-pounds?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 2/16/2018.