Advertisement
Israel Adesanya
Martial ArtsMixed Martial Arts
Patrick Blennerhassett
Patrick Blennerhassett

The Takedown | UFC 263: Israel Adesanya’s legacy firmly on line with statement win against Marvin Vettori needed

  • The 31-year-old Nigeria-born, New Zealand-raised former kick-boxer has to dispatch ‘The Italian Dream’ – or kiss the ‘GOAT’ talk goodbye
  • ‘Stylebender’ is under added pressure after a botched move up to light heavyweight, where he got sat on by champ Jan Blachowicz

Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
0
Israel ‘The Last Stylebender’ Adesanya definitely needs a resounding victory over Marvin ‘The Italian Dream’ Vettori at UFC 263. Photo: AP
Patrick Blennerhassett

Sixteen months ago and Israel “The Last Stylebender” Adesanya was on top of the mixed martial arts world.

The Nigeria-born, New Zealand native was fresh off a resounding victory over Paolo Costa, a fight the Brazilian seems like he may never recover from. Adesanya, long seen as the skinny kid, took on a muscle-bulging, physical specimen, and put on an absolute clinic. Not only did he beat Costa, by the end it looked like he was assaulting him.

After the fight at UFC 253 in September of 2020, Adesanya declared that he had cleaned out the middleweight division and was looking for his next challenge. It was hard to argue with him, because since his destruction of Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 236 in 2019, not only had Adesanya remained undefeated, he had beaten the very best in his division. He was riding a nine-fight win streak, and there were “GOAT” (greatest of all time) rumblings picking up steam – talk of adding him into the conversation as one of the best along with Jon Jones, Georges St-Pierre and Amanda Nunes on the women’s side.

After Gastelum there was a knockout of Robert Whittaker, then a snoozefest, but defensively sound win over Yoel Romero. At that point, moving up to 205 pounds seemed like a sound decision for Adesanya as he made his intentions clear: he wanted Jan Blachowicz’s belt to add to his collection so he could join a prestigious club of UFC fighters who have held two titles at once.

At one point, Israel Adesanya looked unbeatable. Now he has to get back to that with a win at UFC 263. Photo: AFP
At one point, Israel Adesanya looked unbeatable. Now he has to get back to that with a win at UFC 263. Photo: AFP

The simultaneous two-belt club is an exclusive one, and everyone already in it is a sure-fire Hall of Famer – Conor McGregor, Daniel Cormier, Henry Cejudo, and Nunes. Adesanya wanted in and saw his chance. Jones had walked away from the light heavyweight belt, for a now extended, prolonged move up to heavyweight, and Blachowicz looked like the right man at the right time with his victory over Dominic Reyes, not necessarily a bona fide title-holder.

Adesanya seemed as confident as ever, declaring he would be fighting at his “walk around weight” and was snapped eating pizza on the weigh-in scale. The MMA world was buying his stock, as he went into the fight a favourite.

Advertisement