Although Israel Adesanya entered the main event of UFC 234 on a day’s notice, he came out on the top.
At Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia, Saturday night,
‘The Last Stylebender’ showed his magnificent moves to outclass Anderson Silva.
Adesanya bested the former UFC middleweight champion with a short right cross to the jaw and also wobbled him with another but he was not been able to put him away leading to an exciting unanimous decision victory.
Adesanya had always idolized his opponent, Anderson Silva. Silva’s fighting style had also impacted Adesanya’s a great deal. However, Israel Adesanya didn’t seem to be too impressed with his performance.
“I have to have a look at the tape. As a fighter it’s hard to assess myself straight off the bat. The first thing I do after a fight is get in the shower and I get to be alone with my thoughts. I can assess how I feel about the fight and then after that, I watch the fight. With that said, I had a lot of fun in there. He’s a great dance partner and we showed off, so ‘Fight of the Night’ was well deserved.”
Speaking about the experience of fighting his idol and the excitement of facing someone whom he always respected, Israel Adesanya shared his thoughts about finally stepping in the octagon to face Silva:
“The best way I could describe it was like being in the Twilight Zone. That was cool as fuck. Even when he caught one of my kicks and I tripped, I was like, ‘All right, here comes the flying knee because I’ve seen this too many times.’ So, I just slid to the left.”
“He tried so many tricks that I’ve seen. Even when I would feint [sic] and make him reach and then he’d bring back his hands and do all the Kung-Fu s—t, I’m like, ‘My man! I’ve this too many times! [sic]’ That’s how Bisping got caught with an up kick. I’m not stupid. I may look stupid but I’m smarter than I look. I was just a cool experience [sic]. Everyone else plays it on EA Sports but I get to play it real life.”
Israel Adesanya is now eyeing his shot for the title that Silva held for years. The belt is currently in Robert Whittaker’s possession. Whittaker withdrew from UFC 234 for an emergency hernia surgery.
In his final few comments, Adesanya pulled no punches.
“I’m fighting for the belt next. I showed up to work. I did my job.”
