Israel Adesanya News

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Robert Whittaker

Israel Adesanya Says He and Robert Whittaker Are Two Dogs Looking at Each Other

Justin Golightly - March 2, 2018

Israel Adesanya believes that destiny has been leading him to everywhere he’s been so far. Traveling the world becoming a master of styles finally resulted in him breaking into the UFC and marking his territory after his successful debut. Carrying on with his mystical journey, Adesanya doesn’t see any other location his pilgrimage takes him other than against Robert Whittaker for the UFC middleweight title. “With Robert [Whittaker], for whatever reason, he might lose the belt then gain it back, or I gain it and he tries to take it away from me in Spark Arena. But I just know me and him are gonna fight in Auckland by the end of 2019, and I just see the way we are because he’s good, I’m great. You know, it’s just gonna be for the belt. I’ve never met the guy. I’ve seen him across the room or across places, but I’ve never really had a word with him. It’s never anything personal, it’s just business, it’s just the game we’re in. He knows. It’s a fighter thing. When you look at each other and you just kind of have this potential of like, ‘Yeah, I see you, you see me’. It’s just a thing.”

Israel Adesanya
Marvin Vettori

Israel Adesanya Warns 'Flat-Footed' Marvin Vettori That He's in for a Starching

Justin Golightly - March 2, 2018

The Last Style Bender Israel Adesanya isn’t intimidated by a quick turnaround. Actually, Adesanya isn’t intimidated by much of anything. He treated the bright lights of his UFC 221 debut just like another fight, which paid off in spades. Next he’ll fight former Venator welterweight champion Marvin Vettori, believing that it won’t go any different than his last dissection. “[Marvin Vettori] got pushed [to insult me on Twitter]. I mean, he wouldn’t say sh-t, he wouldn’t dare say sh-t if the fight wasn’t already signed. I already signed the fight and he took the fight, credit to him. I say whenever these guys take fights with me, I always feel like they think they have something up their sleeve. I mean, but they know who they’re f-cking with. So he may have something up his sleeve, but we’ll find out come April 14th [at UFC Glendale].”

Israel Adesanya
Marvin Vettori

Israel Adesanya Booked for Violent UFC Glendale Card Against Marvin Vettori

Justin Golightly - February 24, 2018

After his masterful performance against Rob Wilkinson at UFC 221 followed by a ceremonial ‘marking of his territory’, The Last Style Bender Israel Adesanya wanted to jump right back into the Octagon and continue his now 12-fight win streak in MMA, which is just a small blip next to his nearly 60 victories in kickboxing and boxing combined. It looks like he got his wish, Adesanya will fight former Venator FC welterweight champion, Marvin Vettori at UFC Glendale. Maybe I’m doing this UFC thing wrong. But issokay…I’m different 🙂#ufcglendale #mamamia #basghettibolonaise pic.twitter.com/VjmUBUQRoy

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Israel Adesanya

Israel Adesanya Dares the UFC to Not Protect Him Because He Doesn't Need It

Justin Golightly - February 23, 2018

For those who were in the know, Israel Adesanya’s debut at UFC 221 was highly anticipated. After he dissected his opponent and gave his fire emoji post-fight speech though, everyone was leaping onto the bandwagon. Since then, he’s followed up with social media posts and more media appearances, proving to everyone that he’s ready for the spotlight. Some are worried that his performance and personality will cause the UFC to fast track the prospect, but Adesanya isn’t worried about that one bit. In fact, he welcomes it. “That’s why we took so long to get to the UFC. We took our time coming to the UFC because we wanted to make sure that if they gave us a top-15 or top-10 or even top-5 straight away, that I would be ready. We wanted to make sure that I could take on anyone in the world. All these other people coming from ‘Looking for a Fight’ and they jump in the UFC after 3 or 4 fights, some of them do well, some of them don’t. Before you swim in the depths of the ocean you got to make sure you can swim with sharks. The difference is I don’t just swim with the sharks, I eat them and that’s what I’m about to do.”

Israel Adesanya
Israel Adesanya

Israel Adesanya Blasts Sponsors Who Missed Out on the Hype Train

Justin Golightly - February 13, 2018

In the lead up to UFC 221, we tried to educate you on Israel Adesanya and why his debut — despite barely any promotion — was one the most hyped UFC debuts since Conor McGregor. He didn’t let any “kickboxing hipsters” who were singing his praises to friends on social media down, as he dominated his fight with surgical precision then proceeded to cut a fun promo in the Octagon. After a nearly 80 fight journey has finally culminated in being in the premier MMA league on the planet, he recently sent a message to those that closed the doors on him. “Sponsors. Shout out to the ones that turned me down. The ones that said, “You’re not what were looking for at the moment.’ The ones that “helped” me only to help themselves, then keep reminding you they “helped” you four years ago. I f-ck with Ash James [from ENGAGE Fight Wear] because he saw the potential of what I could do beyond just fighting. He bought in early and helped me along some highs and lows of this game, because he’s a good c-nt. The rest of you corporations  trying to buy in now because I’m hot in these streets, my stock is rising, it’s gonna keep rising and the buy-in rate just tripled. Also, you have to be a GC.”—Israel Adesanya via his official Instagram.

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Israel Adesanya

Israel Adesanya compares his UFC debut to Conor McGregor's

Tom Taylor - February 11, 2018

Though it was shamefully under-promoted, one of the most hyped UFC debuts in recent memory occurred last night on the UFC 221 undercard, as “The Last Style Bender” Israel Adesanya stepped into the Octagon for the first time. Despite a tough first round, throughout which he was taken down and controlled by his opponent Rob Wilkinson, Adesanya ultimately made good on his debut, gaining control of the fight in the second, and unleashing a hellacious beating en route to an impressive TKO win. He’s now 12-0 overall.

Israel Adesanya
UFC 221

UFC 221 Results: Israel Adesanya TKO's Rob Wilkinson (VIDEO)

Chris Taylor - February 10, 2018

UFC 221 Results: Israel Adesanya TKO’s Rob Wilkinson A middleweight scrap between highly touted promotional newcomer Israel Adesanya and hometown favorite Rob Wilkinson took place on tonight’s UFC 221 prelims.

Israel Adesanya
UFC 221

VIDEO | Israel Adesanya Promises You're Dealing With a New Breed at UFC 221

Justin Golightly - February 9, 2018

Most fighters hope their style gets labeled as something that resembles a killer like Jon Jones or strikes comparisons to the legend Anderson Silva, but not ‘Style Bender’ Israel Adesanya. While he may fit the body type and skill set, he’d rather you not disrespect them — or him for that matter — by constructing mental Venn diagrams of him and them. Going into his UFC debut tomorrow, he wants to showcase something completely new. He wants to showcase himself. “Don’t insult [Jon Jones, Anderson Silva or Michael ‘Venom’ Page] or me by comparing us. I know what they’re trying to do, I know what they’re trying to say, but we’re different people. I watched Anderson Silva at UFC 90. I think it was my first pay-per-view I watched of him. Before that I watched some DVDs, but then UFC 90 I watched him live fight Patrick Cote. He used — probably in the first round — 10 different styles and then in the second round used telekinesis to dismantle [Cote’s] knee. I was like, who’s this skinny black guy?”