Describing Conor McGregor, the first person to maintain titles in two weight divisions at the same time at the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Arnold Schwarzenegger said the Irish was ‘greater than a fighter’
The legendary actor, retired professional Realtor and former Governor of California equally said of the former UFC’s featherweight and lightweight champion: “he is more than an athlete and more than a winner.”
Maybe, if there is one other fighter within the rank and file of the UFC that currently fits this kind of all-encompassing description, that person is no other than Nigerian-born New Zealand-professional combined martial artist, Israel Adesanya.
In September, the 31-year-old Adesanya who grew up in Lagos before glancing abroad with his parents, got the whole world talking after rapping Paulo Costa in his second-round success at UFC 253.
Victory over Costa in Abu Dhabi took Adesanya’s unbeaten run in UFC into 20 in as many fights with impressive 15 knockouts successes since 2018. Obviously, champions don’t come well than it seems, Adesanya is unstoppable with the way he brings down competitions under his magical spell. But it was the way of his defeat of the dominant Costa that really brought home how great Adesanya was and how better he could nevertheless be.
Inside his reportage of this UFC 235 sensational victory by Adesanya, Joe Coleman of TalkSPORT painted a gripping picture:”Israel Adesanya delivered a great performance on Fight Island to knock out bitter rival Paulo Costa and retain his UFC middleweight championship. The previous Stylebender was totally perfect in Abu Dhabi, picking apart his far bigger opponent before landing barbarous ground strikes in the second round.
“Costa was left bloodied and bruised on the canvas, with his undefeated record in tatters after being picked apart so reluctantly. The Brazilian simply could not close the distance, eating brutal lead leg kicks, desperately swinging to attempt to land a highly effective performance.
But, Adesanya showcased all his kickboxing and boxing expertise by using his jab and footwork to evade the onrushing’Borrachinha’.”
Really, this Adesanya is just unstoppable.
As the middleweight champion, Adesanya is now third in the UFC Men’s pound-for-pound ranking behind Russian Khabib Nurmagomedov (Lightweight Champions and Number 1) and American Jon Jones (Light Heavyweight Champion and Number 2). His net worth is reportedly in the area of $2 million.
Can Adesanya function better?
“I think he is gonna function as new Adesanya of the division,” noted White later Adesanya performed The Eraser (Costa). “He’s got his own style and his own way about him. I believe he is gonna be the next big superstar here, particularly after tonight’s performance.”
It has taken Adesanya some hard work to reach this point and to be heralded as one of the best things to have happened to UFC, is something special.
He allegedly started training in kickboxing if he was 18 and his curiosity was fuelled after viewing a Thai movie named Ong-Bak based on Muaythai game.
He then enlisted at City Kickboxing to start his professional career in 2001 after moving to Auckland, New Zealand with his family. There he trained himself under Eugene Bareman along with other recognized MMA fighters like Dan Hooker, Kai Kara-France and Alexander Volkanovski and proceeded on to stockpile an excellent amateur kickboxing record with an unbeaten over 32 fights before moving to China to live and fight.
In 2016, he also won the Glory 34 middleweight competition championship in Denver. Though he could not win the championship, this game made people see him as one of the best fighters in the world. In 2017, Adesanya defeated veteran Melvin Guillard and marked his 10th success as well as the Australian Fighting Championship Middleweight belt. He has also won the King of the Ring 86 Cruiserweights Tournament twice and also the heavyweight tournament once in his career.
Though, The Last Stylebender since Adesanya is nicknamed finished his kickboxing career with two losses; he has turned winning to a art since he made his debut in UFC in February 2018.
As said of Conor by Schwarzenegger I
