Israel Adesanya News

Chris Taylor - February 9, 2019

Tonight’s UFC 234 event was headlined by a middleweight bout between former division champion Anderson Silva and surging contender Israel Adesanya. Anderson Silva entered the octagon for the first time in over a year tonight in Melbourne. “The Spider” was last seen in action at UFC 208, where he scored a unanimous decision victory over Derek Brunson.

Chris Taylor - February 9, 2019

The octagon returns to Australia this evening for the promotions UFC 234 pay-per-view event which is now headlined by a middleweight bout between Anderson Silva and Israel Adesanya. Tonight’s pay-per-view event was expected to be headlined by a middleweight title fight between Robert Whittaker and Kelvin Gastelum. However, “The Reaper” was forced to withdraw from the fight due to an injury just hours prior to the event.

Drake Riggs - February 8, 2019

Tomorrow night, the ‘Stylebender’ Israel Adesanya will be looking to take out the legendary Anderson Silva in the UFC 234 co-main event in Melbourne, Australia. Meanwhile, the main event of the evening will see his division’s title be fought over as the middleweight champion Robert Whittaker looks to defend against Kelvin Gastelum.

Tom Taylor - February 8, 2019

Eugene Bareman, who serves as the coach of red-hot contender Israel Adesanya, is not a fan of his star pupil’s UFC 234 opponent, former UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva. In fact, Bareman feels that, after the Brazilian’s unfortunate brushes with the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), Anderson Silva is basically now the “Lance Armstrong of MMA.”

Tom Taylor - February 7, 2019

Israel Adesanya is arguably the most hyped fighter in the UFC right now. In a way, his rise has been quite similar to the rise of Jon Jones, who is now considered one of the best fighters ever. The similar trajectories of Jones and Adesanya has led many fans and pundits to compare the two.

James Lynch - February 7, 2019

This Saturday at UFC 234 could be the last time we see Anderson Silva in the octagon. That’s according to UFC President Dana White who told TMZ, that if Silva is knocked out by Israel Adesanya in their middleweight co-main event matchup, it could be the end of the road for “The Spider.”

Cole Shelton - February 6, 2019

The UFC’s first pay-per-view of 2019 will go down in Melbourne, Australia and be topped by a middleweight title fight between Robert Whittaker and Kelvin Gastelum. However, arguably the fight most fans are looking forward to is the co-main event where rising superstar Israel Adesanya will take on former champion Anderson Silva. Ahead of this fight, BJPENN.com reached out to several pro fighters to get their predictions. Most believe Adesanya will be too much for Silva, while one fighter is undecided on who will win.

Tom Taylor - February 6, 2019

UFC 234, which goes down this weekend in Melbourne, Australia, will be headlined by a middleweight title fight between champ Robert Whittaker and challenger Kelvin Gastelum, and co-headlined by a middleweight contender bout between former champ Anderson Silva and rising star Israel Adesanya. The card sold out almost immediately. That, New Zealand’s Israel Adesanya, is because of him — not because of the Australian champion Robert Whittaker.

Tom Taylor - December 19, 2018

On February 9, at UFC 234 in Melbourne, Australia, former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva will battle red-hot contender Israel Adesanya. Heading into this matchup, many fans have suggested that Silva and Adesanya are quite similar. Some have even suggested that the latter is a newer, younger version of the former.

Tom Taylor - December 12, 2018

UFC President Dana White recently divulged that the winner of Anderson Silva and Israel Adesanya’s UFC 234 showdown is likely to get the next crack at the UFC middleweight belt. For Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, who has been working to earn a UFC middleweight title shot for years, this was unwelcome news. Speaking to Brazil’s Portal do Vale Tudo in his native Portuguese, Jacare sounded off on the UFC potentially giving a title shot to Anderson Silva, who was very recently tied up with a United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) suspension.

Tom Taylor - December 4, 2018

Streaking UFC middleweight contender Israel Adesanya is easily one of the most hyped fighters on the UFC roster at present. Former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping is impressed by the Nigerian-born New Zealander — but not so much that he believes he couldn’t beat him. In fact, Bisping believes he’d have “an easy time” against Adesanya.

Tom Taylor - November 30, 2018

It was recently announced that UFC 234 will feature a middleweight showdown between streaking contender Israel Adesanya and former middleweight champ Anderson Silva. While some fans are thrilled about this clash of legendary strikers, others feel it’s irresponsible matchmaking; a chance to feed the aging legend Anderson Silva to a hyped-up young fighter. Israel Adesanya has heard these criticisms. While he agrees that Anderson Silva is perhaps not the fighter he once was, he assures he’s not Chuck Liddell, who was knocked out by Tito Ortiz last weekend.

Chris Taylor - November 24, 2018

Former UFC middleweight kingpin Anderson Silva will return to the octagon on February 9 in Melbourne to taking on rising star Israel Adesanya. ESPN’s Brett Okamoto broke the news just moments ago on Twitter.

Cole Shelton - November 22, 2018

Israel Adesanya is a rising star in the UFC. The New Zealander signed with the promotion early in 2018 and has had a phenomenal year. The 29-year-old went 4-0 in 2018 and is the favorite to win breakthrough fighter of the year. Adesanya went from a virtual unknown to being ranked sixth in the middleweight division in only a matter of a couple months. In his most recent effort, Adesanya defeated Derrick Brunson at UFC 230 which put him into the top ten of the rankings. Following his stoppage victory over Brunson, Adesanya stated his desire to fight for the title in his next octagon appearance. However, with Robert Whittaker and Kelvin Gastelum booked for early in 2019, Adesanya will most likely have to win another fight before being granted that opportunity.

James Lynch - November 19, 2018

You can scratch Israel Adesanya off the list of potential backup fighters for the Robert Whittaker vs. Kelvin Gastelum middleweight title fight at UFC 234. That’s according to Adesanya himself who told the New Zealand Herald that following a meeting with UFC President Dana White last week he’s not interested in taking that spot.

Tom Taylor - November 14, 2018

Israel Adesanya looks more and more like a future UFC middleweight title challenger with every passing fight. In fact, after his UFC 230 execution of long-time contender Derek Brunson, his fighting for the title in the near future looks less like a likelihood and more like a downright certainty. The UFC middleweight title is currently held by Australia’s Robert Whittaker. Provided Whittaker defeats his next challenger Kelvin Gastelum, who he’ll meet at UFC 234 in late January, he could easily find himself locked in the cage with the Nigerian Kiwi Israel Adesanya soon thereafter.

Tom Taylor - November 8, 2018

UFC 230 was a big night for the UFC middleweight division. First, we saw undefeated striking sensation Israel Adesanya burst into the division’s top-10 with a first-round dissection of Derek Brunson. Then, an hour or so later, we saw former Strikeforce middleweight champ Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza surge back into title contention with a jaw-dropping third-round knockout of former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman. While Adesanya and Jacare both impressed the MMA community at UFC 230, it turns out that the former did not really impress the latter.

Tom Taylor - November 4, 2018

So many times before, we’ve seen massively hyped fighters stumble as the near the proverbial mountaintop. Surging UFC middleweight contender Israel Adesanya, however, could not have looked  more surefooted in his massive UFC 230 showdown with missile-fisted wrestler Derek Brunson. Ahead of the fight, it was easy to imagine a world where Brunson repeatedly took Israel Adesanya down and mushed him through the chainlink so forcefully that the he oozed out the other side and onto the commentary booth in diamond-shaped chunks. But this isn’t the way it happened. Instead, Israel Adesanya shut down his foe’s takedown attempts, and forced a firefight on the feet, where he reduced Brunson to rubble with some of the slickest, most pinpoint striking we’ve seen in the Octagon.