Israel Adesanya Shines In Beating American Brad Tavares:
Despite the heavy sell I hadn’t totally bought into the hype train that is Israel Adesanya, but after his lopsided and thoroughly impressive win over Brad Tavares I am beginning to change my view.
Tavares came into the fight with the heavily touted Adesanya as the 8th ranked middleweight, but he left the cage suffering a one-sided defeat by way of decision by scores of 50-45, 50-45 and 49-46. Adesanya extended his unbeaten record to 14-0 in the process and he will now see his name in the UFC rankings for the first time when they are updated early next week.
Some argued it was too much too soon for the Kiwi but Tavares had very little success throughout the 5 rounds, and personally I would have liked to have seen his corner pull their incredibly brave fighter out at the end of the 4th, he had taken enough and any reasonable chance of victory had long since gone.
Adesanya varied his attack impressively, his movement again keeping him out of harms way when it needed to and his patience was another highlight for me despite a stoppage win seemingly there for the taking at times.
When the new rankings are published Adesanya will be in the top 10 and the likes of David Branch, Derek Brunson or even Chris Weidman could be immediate targets for Adesanya who despite my initial concerns could very well be in the title picture sooner rather than later.
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