UFC middleweight champion [autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag]’s fast rise to stardom started a little more than two years ago.
Accomplished kickboxer Adesanya (19-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) made his highly-anticipated promotional debut in February 2018 against Rob Wilkinson at UFC 221.
Wilkinson came in with the right strategy, catching one of Adesanya’s low kicks early and stacking him against the cage. Adesanya defended well, but Wilkinson was on him like glue.
Adesanya was able to finally disengage just under two minutes left in the round, looking patient on the feet, throwing a few jabs and kicks from the outside. Wilkinson went right back to the takedown, and Adesanya used a beautiful roll to momentarily escape before getting stuffed right back to the cage.
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In Round 2, Adesanya poured on the pressure, backing Wilkinson up with a strong jab, followed by a body shot. Wilkinson ducked under for a takedown, but Adesanya was easily able to sprawl. Wilkinson eventually landed the brief takedown, but after Adesanya broke free, he put the finishing touches on a visibly tired Wilkinson, breaking him down with a series of knees, and body shots, sending him to the canvas.
Adesanya didn’t highly rate his UFC debut, but his career only skyrocketed from there. He fought five times in his first year with the promotion, setting him up for a UFC interim middleweight title shot against Kelvin Gastelum, in what turned out to be one of the best fights of 2019.
After capturing the interim title in a thriller with Gastelum, Adesanya unified the titles with a knockout over Robert Whittaker, completing his title quest in less than two years with the promotion. He then made his first successful title defense by outpointing Yoel Romero at UFC 248.
Check out Adesanya’s UFC debut in the video above.
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