The Film Room: Israel Adesanya

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UFC 230 is now available on Amazon Prime.

Undefeated prospect Israel Adesanya returns to the Ultimate Fighting Championship for the fourth time this weekend when he takes on veteran Derek Brunson at UFC 230. Adesanya is one of the most highly-regarded prospects to come into the UFC in the past decade and a win over Brunson would push him one step closer to a title shot.

The Last Stylebender

“The Last Stylebender” might sound like just a cool nickname, but it perfectly encapsulates how Adesanya approaches mixed martial arts. Coming from a kickboxing background where he amassed a 75-5 record, you would expect him to be a one-dimensional striker. But what has him so highly touted by fans and media is his well-roundedness and ability to mix styles just five years into his mixed martial arts career.



We didn’t know what to expect from Adesanya in his first UFC fight and we were treated with seeing one of the best strikers to ever grace the Octagon. His feints and distance management are second to none, and his patient and varied attack make it almost impossible to know what’s coming next. Adesanya had Rob Wilkinson hurt in the first round, but chose to slowly pick him apart instead of aggressively looking for the finish and risk getting hit. Patience is a virtue -- especially in MMA -- and Adesanya’s ability to not get overwhelmed and stay patient on the big stage while never putting himself in position to be hit is extremely rare in MMA. This patient and stalking leading attack also allowed him to completely outclass Brad Tavares for five full rounds earlier this summer and proved to fans that Adesanya is not here to take part; he’s here to take over.



As stated earlier, Adesanya’s feints and distance management are some of the best we have ever seen in MMA. As a long and rangy fighter, Adesanya must control the pace and distance the fight takes place at to take advantage of his length and he achieves this with varied feints and understanding of defensive footwork. One of his go-to feints is this Lyoto Machida-style hip feint into a body kick off either leg. Against Tavares, who keeps his hands very high, Adesanya routinely used this into a body kick to get his hands low and open up strikes.



He also uses these hip feints to attack the legs, as seen against Marvin Vettori.



Although Adesanya’s masterful striking is beautiful to watch, his main source of success comes from footwork. The average MMA fan doesn't think about footwork often, but it can be the one intangible that wins or loses a fight. Since Adesanya doesn't have the grappling experience that most in the top 10 have, he must rely on evasive footwork to defend takedowns and strikes. His incredible timing when striking translates to his ability to read reactions and know when strikes are coming next, where he can use his footwork to retreat and avoid oncoming attacks. Something important to notice about his defense is how he rarely retreats in a straight line and always takes an angle as to not get backed to the cage or hit. Something that wasn’t talked about enough in his fight with Tavares was that the fight took place in the smaller cage. Adesanya defended 11 of 12 takedowns and avoided 78 percent of Tavares’ strikes, all while having much less room to move. If Adesanya can put on a footwork masterclass in the small cage, just imagine what he can do in the standard outfit.



Something else interesting about Adesanya’s defense is his frequent use of the shoulder roll. Since he keeps his hands low to defend takedowns and make his punches come in at odd angles, he can’t stand his ground and cover up to defend strikes. Instead, he uses footwork to evade. Shoulder rolls and absorbing strikes on the forearms to make himself an even harder target to hit in part of the repertoire.



Adesanya’s striking has been magnificent to watch and it is the reason why many think he is the future of 185. But to me, the most impressive aspect of his game thus far has been his takedown defense. He doesn't have near the grappling experience most in the UFC have, yet his opponents have gone a combined 6 of 33 for takedowns. Even when he has been taken down he got back to his feet almost immediately.

Many kickboxers have a tough time transitioning to MMA because of the smaller gloves, threat of grappling exchanges, shape of the cage and a host of other differences between the sports. So far, Adesanya has made a seamless move using efficient footwork, timing and distance management as his main sources for success. At only 29 years-old, Adesanya has plenty of time to completely round out his game and possibly become one of the greatest mixed martial artists of the generation.

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