The best and worst from UFC 234: Adesanya vs. Silva

#2 Best: Adesanya and Silva live up to the hype, sort of

Israel Adesanya's fight with Anderson Silva turned out to be a lot of fun

Thrown into the main event slot at the last minute due to the injury of Robert Whittaker, Israel Adesanya’s fight with Anderson Silva was seen by a lot of fans as a symbolic passing of the torch – from the former flashy striker of the 185lbs division to the next – but it was also expected to be a squash match in favour of Adesanya. Despite all of his incredible accomplishments, Silva was 43 and hadn’t looked genuinely good in a fight since 2012.

Thankfully though, the fight actually went down about as well as it could’ve done from all perspectives. Silva showed his chin and reflexes aren’t totally shot, as he dodged some big shots from Adesanya, took some punishment without being truly hurt, and got off with some of his own shots too. Adesanya showed patience, skill, and while he never came close to a finish, he clearly got the better of all of the exchanges.

And the fans seemed wowed by an almost strange fight that was reminiscent of a video game or movie at times thanks to all the taunting, stance-switching and unique strikes that were thrown.

For the UFC, this was also perfect. It means that they can probably use Silva in at least one or two more big fights before he hangs his gloves up, and as Adesanya didn’t finish in spectacular fashion, it means there won’t be too much clamour for him to get a title shot before the Whittaker/Gastelum issue is cleared up. It wasn’t a Fight of the Year Candidate, but it was fun, and that was enough really.