Israel Adesanya is an unimpressive champion. He and the UFC would have you believe that he's a phenom, but the dynamism he showed on his ascent has been mostly absent from his championship run. I think he thinks he's Anderson Silva Part Deux but his offense lacks the violence and creativity Silva had. Decision wins over Yoel Romero, Marvin Vettori, and now Whitaker, a five round mauling by Jan, and a KO win over juicehead Paulo Costa who completely gassed out about 2 minutes into the fight...I can't say this is a super impressive resume.

Kumaru Usman is everything they keep telling me Israel Adesanya is - vicious, an all timer, and getting better. And though I know they're friends, it may take Usman moving up to finally see the very best Izzy has to offer.