Israel Adesanya's coach Eugene Bareman recently pointed out what could pose a threat to Israel Adesanya during his title defense against 'The Killa Gorilla'.
Israel Adesanya and Jared Cannonier are all set for their much-anticipated middleweight title fight at UFC 276, scheduled to take place on July 2. At the event, 'The Last Stylebender' will be defending his division gold for the fifth time.
Even though everyone is rooting for Adesanya and believes the champion will have an advantage over Cannonier, it is not as easy as is being claimed.
Cannonier used to be a heavyweight before moving down to the middleweight division, hence, 'The Killa Gorilla's "physical attributes" might create some trouble for Adesanya, according to the coach.
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While appearing on the 2nd episode of the UFC 276 Embedded: Vlog Series, Bareman said:
"Cannonier is literally our biggest challenge coming down from heavyweight. We know there's some like physical attributes that are going to really uh...give us trouble if we don't take care of them."
You can check out the recent episode of the UFC 276 Embedded: Vlog Series below:
Adesnaya was last seen in the octagon at UFC 271 where he faced Robert Whittaker for the second time in his career.
Although Whittaker proved to be a tough opponent for the Kiwi, 'The Reaper' could not stop the champ from successfully defending his title for the fourth time. He did that via a unanimous decision win at the end of five rounds.
The Nigerian-born New Zealander currently holds an impressive fight record of 22 wins and only one loss and is currently unbeaten in the middleweight division.
Jared Cannonier, on the other hand, last entered the octagon against Derek Brunson at UFC 271, where he defeated the 38-year-old middleweight with a brutal second-round knockout. 'The Killa Gorilla' currently holds a record of 15-5 and is on a two-fight win streak.
With both fighters coming off impressive wins, it will be interesting to see if Cannonier can live up to his moniker and stain Adesanya's unbeaten record in the division. Or will it be Adesanya who will successfully defend his title for the fifth time?
Israel Adesanya addresses criticism on grappling and takedown defense
In a recent interview with Yahoo! Sports' Kevin Iole, Israel Adesanya stated that he is confident in his ground game after years of practice. 'The Last Stylenbender' went on to say that he rarely gets to show off his groundwork in his fights because they rarely go to the ground.
Addressing criticisms of his grappling and ground game, the middleweight champ said:
"You watch the fights in my early UFC career, the urgency to get up when I get to the ground, 'cause not that I'm lacking in those skills, but I wasn't just confident. But now, I'm very confident over the past few years in the gym on the ground. It just so happens that I haven't been able to do what I wanted to do on the ground because the fight rarely go to the ground."
You can check out Adesanya's full interview with Yahoo! Sports below: