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Israel Adesanya is currently the best striker in the UFC. In fact, he is likely the best striker in all of MMA. While elite mixed martial artists such as Stephen 'Wonderboy' Thompson or Anderson Silva may have once laid claim to the title of MMA's best striker, age and a declining skill-set have contributed to their descent from the throne now occupied by the UFC's reigning middleweight champion. Israel Adesanya is elusive, possessing a deep arsenal of techniques unlike any ever seen from an MMA fighter. With it, he ghosts past his opponents' strikes, seemingly always in the right place at the right time to land devastating counters.
He is comfortable at every range, undoing myths that suggest his long arms are liabilities at close range. From the outside, he is difficult to close the distance against, but from the inside he is a punishing counter-puncher who has demolished the likes of former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker and the once undefeated Brazilian bruiser Paulo Costa. While there are various reasons asserting Israel Adesanya as the UFC's best striker, this list explores the five most prominent ones.
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#5. Israel Adesanya's footwork
While MMA fighters excel at many things, very few mixed martial artists are good ring/cage generals, and even fewer are good ring/cage cutters. The former entails using lateral and linear movement along with pivots and overall footwork to evade an opponent who is determined to come forward. The latter entails moving laterally with an evasive opponent, stepping with them to cut off their angles and prevent them from circling out into open space without rushing forward in a straight line.
The relative shortage of such skill-sets in MMA has led to many instances where good ring/cage generals outmaneuver everyone without the means to make doing so difficult, while good ring/cage cutters easily close down foes without the ability to evade them. Israel Adesanya, however, is not only a great ring/cage general, he has faced an excellent ring/cage cutter in Paulo Costa, outmaneuvering him to such an extent that Costa could not impose his primary pressure game. While Adesanya stands with a wide stance, he immediately flattens out his stance when his back is relatively close to the fence.
He shuffles from side to side, moving to the left, then to the right to misdirect his opponent into committing to one angle so that he can then circle out of the open angle. This made it even more impressive because Adesanya did so against a good cage cutter like Costa, misdirecting him every time he was pushed to the fence. His footwork was matched only by Stephen Thompson when the latter was in his physical prime.
#4. Adesanya is excellent on the outside
Many fighters possess height and reach advantages over their opponents. However, most of them do not utilize their length advantages properly. Stefan Struve, for example, remains the tallest and longest fighter in UFC history. Yet, the former heavyweight never made intelligent use of those advantages despite his kickboxing background. Israel Adesanya, by contrast, makes exceptional use of his height and reach at every range.
From the outside, Adesanya punishes his foes with thunderous low kicks, using his length to outstrike his opponents from farther out than their strikes can connect. He pairs up his low kicks with feints. Israel Adesanya, in particular, uses his entire body to feint. He uses his shoulders, hands, and especially his hips when he's at long range. He thrusts his hips, using the threat of his established kicks to force his opponents into a purely reactive mindset. If all his opponent does is react constantly, they no longer have any initiative in the fight and will eventually react incorrectly as Adesanya dictates every single moment of the bout.
#3. He is just as comfortable on the inside
Despite his long reach, Adesanya is dangerous on the inside, where most of his counter-punching takes place. Because Israel Adesanya is taller and longer than his opponents, he can afford to pull away from strikes—even kicks—at the waist, forcing his foe to overextend on their punches, in particular. Once he draws out their overextension, Adesanya twists and turns his torso into a brutal counter-left hook. Most of his combinations come at this range where he can lean away, use pull counters, and chain together punches when his foes are out of position due to their overextension.
Doing this not only exposes his opponents to fight-ending combinations, it is also a form of psychological warfare. By making his opponent's punches miss so frequently when they target his head, Israel Adesanya causes his foes to obsess over landing the knockout blow, duping them into thinking that due to their other punches missing, the next punch they throw must knock Adesanya out. Thus, Adesanya tricks his opponents into believing that every punch they throw must count because if they miss most of their punches, the few that do land must have maximum power behind them otherwise they'll lose on points. This not only gasses his opponents out faster due to high energy expenditure, but it also makes them overextend even more, and runs them into Israel Adesanya's counters.
#2. His high-kick setups
While much is said about Adesanya's low kicks, his high-kicks are extremely efficient. Though Israel Adesanya certainly benefits from his speed, the bulk of what enables his high-kicks to land as frequently as they do is the variety of high-kick setups. One of these setups was best used against Paulo Costa, a pressure fighter who constantly moves forward and makes the prospect of throwing kicks more difficult as it is tremendously difficult to throw kicks with much power or follow-through when one is moving backward.
As Costa trapped Israel Adesanya's lead hand with his own to neutralize the jab, Adesanya faked the straight with his alternate hand to trick Costa into slipping the punch. As Costa prepared to slip the faked straight, he unknowingly moved his head into the path of a hard high-kick.
Adesanya sometimes uses jabs to setup a high-kick. He peppers his foe with his jab, establishing its threat until his foe begins slipping it. Once that defensive reaction is in place, Adesanya throws the jab to draw the slip, and again, his opponent unknowingly moves their head in the direction of a high-kick.
Another high-kick setup relies on his low kicks and body kicks. After punishing his opponents with hard kicks to the legs and midsection, Adesanya throws his leg low, as if to target the body or legs. Once his opponents drop their hands to catch the kick, Adesanya whips his leg high, targeting the head with a question mark kick.
#1. Adesanya has outstruck other great strikers
Many fighters who are heralded as phenoms in their respective skill-sets, whether it's grappling or striking, rarely face opponents who are highly skilled in those areas. For example, a common argument made by Khabib Nurmagomedov's detractors is that the retired lightweight champion never faced a strong wrestler or highly skilled grappler outside of Rafael dos Anjos, who performs poorly off his back.
Similarly, the greatness of Anderson Silva's striking has been questioned as the Brazilian legend rarely ever faced anyone who didn't overreact to his naked feints or dare to double up their jab against him. Israel Adesanya, on the other hand, has proven his skill-set as an elite striker against other great strikers like Robert Whittaker, Paulo Costa, and even Anderson Silva himself. Furthermore, the sheer variety of strikers Adesanya has faced is almost incomparable.
Anderson Silva was an elusive, tricky counter-puncher. Robert Whittaker is a unique blend of boxing and Gōjū-ryū karate. Paulo Costa is a clubbing kickboxer who uses constant pressure and cuts the cage in pursuit of sandwiching his opponents between himself and the fence. Israel Adesanya has bested them all and is now the best striker in the UFC.
