You may be lucky enough to already know about ‘Style Bender’ Israel Adesanya, but most tuning into the UFC 221 card in Perth this weekend probably won’t. …But they most likely will be trying to learn how to pronounce his name soon after he steps into the Octagon for the first time. This 28-year old prospect has all the ingredients to make a breakout UFC star if he brings it altogether in his debut. Although, to call Adesanya a ‘prospect’ may seem to the uninitiated that he hasn’t been tested or he’s an amateur. This is absolutely not the case.
“I look forward to this moment in time. It’s easy to sit on your ass and type. Only a chosen few on this planet have the balls (and ovaries) to say what they wanna do, put everything on the line in front of millions, and do it despite what others think. It’s been a long road to get here, man. In 2005, you couldn’t pay me enough to hop in a cage and fight another trained killer. F-cking plot twist, huh? They laughed at me when I said Imma’ be in the UFC one day. Where are they now? Point being, their opinion is none of your business. Let them hate. They hate us cause they anus.” — Israel Adesanya via his official Instagram.
Style Bender fight week #UFC221 pic.twitter.com/9Zbsfj9c3U
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) February 5, 2018
Through all the whirlwind kicks and rocket punches that look like a fencer, Israel Adesanya has 74 fights under his belt from boxing, kickboxing and MMA total. Out of all those bouts, he’s won 66 with more than half of those victories being by knockout. If it’s finishes you want, Adesanya has been collecting them like people were snagging Pokemon on that app a year ago. He’s undefeated in MMA on an 11-fight win streak, all KO victories, something he’ll definitely be looking to keep up this Saturday against Rob Wilkinson on the FS1 prelims. if all these highlights weren’t enough, below you’ll find full video of his last fight. Surprise, surprise; he won the Hex middleweight title by a crazy, question mark head kick knockout.
This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 2/6/2018.