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‘Fought All Killers’- Darren Till Highly Praiseful of UFC Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya

Published 02/02/2021, 11:37 AM EST

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via Imago

Israel Adesanya said he will be living by the moniker of a ‘fighting champion’. But after four fights in one year in 2018, Izzy has slowed down the frequency at which he takes fights since becoming champion in 2019. He fought twice last year, which was still more times than a lot of other UFC Champions.

In those two fights, Izzy beat Yoel Romero and Paulo Costa. They are universally the two toughest opponents to fight in that division. His title win came over Robert Whittaker, one of the best Middleweights of this generation. He is now moving up to 205 to face Jan Blachowicz for the Light Heavyweight Championship.

However, these aren’t easy fights, and Darren Till agrees.

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Though Till made the tweet humorous by misspelling Adesanya’s name the way he did, his point is very true. Adesanya hasn’t fought any easy opponents since ascending to the top. This is a hot topic right now after Uriah Hall criticized Adesanya for picking opponents, despite all this evidence to the contrary.

Israel Adesanya: ‘Picking’ his opponents?

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However, Hall could be correct in one way. Israel Adesanya does literally pick his opponents. Ever since he became champion, he has personally chosen his next three opponents. He called out Yoel Romero and Paulo Costa in the same interview, but clearly stating his intention that he wants to fight Romero because Costa is injured.

via Imago

When Costa came back, Adesanya happily fought him. Romero and Costa are two of the hardest hitting fighters in the division, and both were very deserving of the shots they got. Nobody skipped anyone in line to face Izzy- it all made sense.

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While him fighting Blachowicz doesn’t make the same sense, as he is literally picking his opponent again and leaving a division behind, it is different. Jan Blachowicz is not an easy fight under any circumstance. He decimated the man that almost beat Jon Jones for the title in Dominick Reyes.

Adesanya has fought exclusively elite talent since becoming elite himself. Darren Till clearly agrees.

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Written by:

Ishaan Bhattacharya

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Ishaan Bhattacharya is an NBA, NCAA Basketball, and Combat Sports writer at EssentiallySports. Currently, Ishaan is pursuing a Post Graduate Degree in Journalism from Xavier's Institute of Communication. Previously, Ishaan has written for The Indian Express, The Quint, Sportskeeda, and WrestleClub.
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