5 Israel Adesanya striking techniques

#4 Israel Adesanya has an excellent lead and rear hook.

Israel Adesanya's hooks obliterated Robert Whittaker

Let’s turn to the world of professional boxing for a bit, shall we?

Perhaps one of the biggest mistakes the large majority of strikers make is that of swinging too wide with their hooks. Not everyone can be a Deontay Wilder and get away with throwing high-risk lead and rear hand hooks akin to what many boxing fans and pundits refer to as Wilder’s “windmill punching”.

In fact, even Wilder ultimately fell prey to his habit of swinging at his foes with wide hooks – nullifying the fact that the extension of one’s muscles and a greater range of movement does provide a slight impetus to the hook’s power.

Wilder’s rematch with Tyson Fury for the WBC Heavyweight Championship and The Ring Heavyweight Title saw the former get consistently countered owing to the windmill punches he threw.

Furthermore, as the damage inflicted by Fury’s high-volume striking added up, Wilder’s hooks proved to be his undoing.

Israel Adesanya vs. Robert Whittaker

In stark contrast to Wilder’s hooks, Israel Adesanya adheres to the traditional norms of boxing and maintains good punching form coupled with quick evasive movements after having thrown the hook.

Truth be told, Adesanya often throws a hook whilst already midway into a preemptive evasive maneuver – Case in point being Adesanya’s UFC Middleweight Title unification fight against Robert Whittaker at UFC 243.

The Last Stylebender dropped Whittaker with a perfectly timed rear hand hook (right hook from the orthodox stance) right at the buzzer marking the end of round 1.

In round 2, Adesanya followed it up with a few more rear hand hooks, before catching Whittaker with a brutal short lead hand hook (left hook from the orthodox stance), knocking down the latter and ending the fight via KO with a few follow-up strikes.

What made the stoppage victory so very impressive – apart from Adesanya’s brilliant footwork, timing, precision, and several other factors – was the fact that while Whittaker’s hooks seemed more powerful albeit wide, Adesanya’s shorter and seemingly less powerful hooks proved to be the game-changer.

It was a matter of speed and who connected first, rather than the individual power of the hooks. Adesanya’s short hooks have time and again helped him best most opponents’ wider and more powerful hooks…