The best and worst from UFC on Fox 29

#3 Worst: The Last Stylebender might not be as ready as we think

Israel Adesanya might not be ready for elite-level opponents yet

After a wildly impressive UFC debut win over Rob Wilkinson in February, kickboxer Israel Adesanya was instantly recognized as a potential future star in the UFC, with some observers going as far as to compare him to a young Jon Jones. After his very close win over Marvin Vettori last night, it might be time to slow that hype train up a little.

Sure, Adesanya clearly won – I’m not quite sure how one judge saw the fight in favour of Vettori as Adesanya blatantly landed the far cleaner strikes throughout the first and second round despite the aggression of the Italian – but Vettori was able to stay in the fight and won the third round by outwrestling ‘The Last Stylebender’. And of course, nobody would rank Vettori as one of the division’s elite wrestlers.

Simply put, Adesanya remains a high-end prospect, but he’s in no way ready for the elite of the division and it’s probably a better idea that the UFC gives him more opponents like Vettori rather than some of the tougher foes that Adesanya has called out – like Michael Bisping or Brad Tavares.

He’s still got star potential, but that could all go up in smoke if he’s badly exposed by an elite-level opponent too early in his UFC run.