The best and worst from UFC 221

#3 Best: Last Stylebender delivers in style

Israel Adesanya used his vaunted striking to stop Rob Wilkinson

The debut of ‘The Last Stylebender’ Israel Adesanya was one of the most hyped fights on this card due to Adesanya’s flashy kickboxing style. It was a style that had people making comparisons to Michael ‘Venom’ Page and even Jon Jones, but realistically, Adesanya had never truly been tested against a high-level opponent – outside of the shot and far smaller Melvin Guillard.

Nobody would claim Rob Wilkinson to be a world-beater but he tried his best, stifling Adesanya’s vaunted striking game in the first round with a lot of clinching and attempted takedowns. But Adesanya stood firm and showed a decent defensive grappling game to tire Wilkinson out. By the second round, Wilkinson was exhausted and Adesanya used him as target practice en route to a TKO stoppage.

He went on to cut one of the more charismatic promos in recent UFC memory and with that and a nice debut knockout under his belt, it’s possible that he could go on to stardom. Had he switched Wilkinson’s lights out instantly then it would’ve made for a cool highlight, but beating some adversity this way told us more about Adesanya and so his hype train will only grow. It’ll be a treat to see him fight again soon.