"This is a guy I revered, I still do" - Israel Adesanya compares Anderson Silva fight with epic NBA rivalry 

UFC veteran Anderson Silva and current middleweight champion Israel Adesanya squared off in the octagon at UFC 234 in 2019. Recently, 'The Last Stylebender' compared their fight to the epic NBA rivalry between Michael Jordan and Allen Iverson.

Speaking to BT Sports, the Kiwi said that he revered 'The Spider' and considered him to be one of the greatest ever figures in not just combat sports but sports in general:

"He's cool I like 'The Spider' man. I mean this is a guy I revered, I still do. I think he is one of the best ever in sports, not just combat sports in sports. So for me to be able to play against him it's kinda like when AI [Allen Iverson] played against Jordan."

Adesanya won the fight against Silva via unanimous decision. He revealed to BT Sports that he considered the fight with Silva to be one of the most iconic moments of his career.

Watch Israel Adesanya's interview with BT sports below:

Iverson and Jordan have crossed paths 13 times during their careers, with Jordan's Chicago Bulls getting the better of Iverson's Philadelphia 76ers on seven occasions. However, Iverson averaged 29.8 points per game against Jordan's 23.5 head-to-head.

Watch Jordan and Iverson battle it out in their 2001 epic clash:

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Israel Adesanya talks about why he'll never fight in New Zealand

During a media appearance in the leadup to his fight at UFC 276, UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya said that he would never fight in New Zealand because of how they treated Dan Hooker and his team during the lockdowns.

In 2021, Dan Hooker was prohibited from training at his empty gym by the New Zealand authorities, citing lockdown rules. Touching up on the incident, Israel Adesanya said:

"I've said to myself because of the way treated Dan and my team, I will never ever fight in New Zealand ever again. That's why if I was ever going to do a stadium show again, I'll do it in Australia instead."

Watch Adesanya talk about why he'll never fight in New Zealand:

'The Last Stylebender' revealed that even though there were a lot of accomplished MMA athletes from Oceania, the Kiwi media did not provide mixed martial arts the coverage it deserved:

"There's about to a third champion from this region of the world. Lets just soak that in for a second. Its mind boggling... Its something that's never been done from this side of the world in this era. And I feel like, because MMA is a relatively new sport... They don't shine as much light on it. That's why we are here in Australia because your media is more MMA friendly than Kiwi media."