Former Champion Middleweight Israel Adesanya returns this weekend to the Octagon in the main event of UFC Fight Night: Saudi -Arabia against a rising French 'sneaker'.
'The Last Stylebender' hopes to get itself back in the win column and back in the title interview; With the championship belt the next week before grabbing on UFC 312: du Persis vs Strickland.
In anticipation of the long-awaited return of Israel Adesanya to action, it is time to perhaps his brutal victory of the stop, when 'Stylebender' regained the face of a future PFL champion in one of the best debut in UFC history.
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
The UFC debut of Israel Adesanya could not have been better or more brutal
The year is 2018 and with the UFC that reaches Australia again, the promotion finally welcomed a fresh striker Israel Adesanya in the middleweight mix.
The former world champion Kickboxing had already offered a place several times, but had refused to become a member of the UFC until he had fully completed his MMA skills – a decision that was correctly proven when he was opposed to Rob 'Razor' Wilkinson at UFC 221 .
Adesanya did not show any signs of nerves, taggen Wilkinson on the feet and showed solid defense skills when 'Razor' could drag him to the canvas in the first.
“Adesanya is starting to get a read about it,” Jon Anik van Cage Side noted, while 'Stylebender' continued to defend the attempts of removal and let Wilkinson pay with his slick striking skills.
While the second round passed, Adesanya continued to stack on the pressure with the face of Wilkinson with the damage of repeated knees in the middle and crochet around the guard.
“This is now a punching bag,” greeted the comment office.
With the face of Wilkinson a mess and Adesanya who has no signs of holding, referee Steve Perceval called a stop to the match for the first TKO of the UFC career of Adesanya.
During the press conference after the fight, UFC director David Shaw stated that Adesanya represented a “pretty exciting hunter” with a debut victory in the bag to keep an eye on.
“We were really impressed by the way he participated tonight, got up really quickly when he was brought down, he was a bit unpredictable in the way he moved around the Octagon.
“It was a great achievement; The ceiling is quite high for him … I know Dana, Mick and Sean are very bullish about the potential with him. “
Adesanya would win his next eight UFC fights, including a sensational knockout victory over Robert Whittaker to claim the middleweight title.
Rob Wilkinson quoted Israel Adesanya before his PFL title Fight victory
That stop loss for Adesanya marked Rob Wilkinson's last fight in the UFC and after he had released the promotion, 'Razor' would fall back on the regional scene.
Wilkinson then headed for the Professional Fighters League, where he earned three consecutive knockouts to secure himself a shot on the light heavyweight title in November 2022.
'Razor' would eventually win that title match through a break from the second round doctors and Adesanya would actually credit with him the experience and skills to become a PFL champion.
“I think that is part of it by fighting Israel and going at their gym and learning those boys,” Wilkinson told MMA Junkie about the change in shape that he had seen since the latter UFC loss.
“I thought I was ready to compete with those guys, but not to fight the top five boys in the world … every fight I've had [since]It is not trained for that person, I trained to be the best hunter I can be and be ready to compete against the best guys in the world.
“I have absolutely learned a lot from fighting and training with Israel and his team, but yes, I just made sure that I was ready when this chance came that I was ready to tackle it.”
Israel Adesanya returns this weekend to the Octagon in the main event of UFC Saudi Aarabia against the striping French competition and #5 Ranked Middle Weight Nassourdine Imavov.
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