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UFC 243: Whittaker vs Adesanya - Oct 5 🇦🇺


wandshogun09

Who wins and how?   

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Christ, Adesnaya is on fire. Throwing a 3 fight combo leaning back with power like that is just insane. Whittaker came out guns blazing and had some success but Adesyana was just too sharp with counters. It isnt all about pure KO power when you land effectively, its all about the accuracy.

The guy oozes star power though, the UFC needed that win as much as Adesanya.

The main card was real good. Lima/Jumeau was poor but the rest delivered. Shit to see Tuivasa taken to school, but Spivak was an unexpected treat, nice to see a heavyweight who isnt all about swinging hammers. Dan Hooker looked great, just beat Al everywhere. 

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Cracking article by Jordan Breen on Adesanya and the history of the MW division. I never knew that the UFC had Nate Marquardt pegged as the face of their middleweight division in 2001 before plans went awry - https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2019/10/7/20903208/ufc-243-op-ed-editorial-opinion-israel-adesanya-ko-victory-robert-whittaker-fun-paulo-costa-mma

I will add that the UFC middleweight division's title fights have almost always delivered since Anderson was dethroned. Weidman's fights with Rockhold and Machida were decent. Whittaker's duels with Romero were outstanding. Even the interim title battles between Adesanya/Kelvin and Romero/Rockhold were very entertaining. And of course, Bisping upsetting Rockhold was a great moment. 

Adesanya vs Costa will surely continue the trend. I hope Adesanya blitzes him. 

 

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Adesanya is definitely a great fighter, but for me I don't think I can get all that excited until he beats some of the more "name" fighters of the division. He needs some Costa's, Romero's, Jacare's on his win record. I know he beat Whittaker, but that dude has been out with injuries so much that I don't even know if he'll ever be the same guy. 

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18 minutes ago, David said:

Adesanya is definitely a great fighter, but for me I don't think I can get all that excited until he beats some of the more "name" fighters of the division. He needs some Costa's, Romero's, Jacare's on his win record. I know he beat Whittaker, but that dude has been out with injuries so much that I don't even know if he'll ever be the same guy. 

He's on the right road, though. He's beaten mainly gatekeepers in Brunson and Tavares, but he's also beaten Gastelum, who, while inconsistent, is definitely a threat.

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1 hour ago, David said:

Yeah, I acknowledge all of that, but I just can't feel him as champion until he beats some of the names in the division. If he manages to put away Costa and Romero, for example, my thinking will change.

Oh, I absolutely agree - just saying that he's on the right train, but a few stops away from Top Elite Station.

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Some people really underrate Gastelum. He is a better scalp than Jacare in 2019. 

I'm not sold on Costa, personally. I felt he lucky to get the decision against Romero. Beyond that fight, he's only beaten journeymen in the UFC, and a shot version of Johny Hendricks. Romero has the game to beat anyone, including Adesanya, but he's on borrowed time. He'll be nearly 43 when he fights next. 

 

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It would be just as easy to pick holes in Adesanya's record as well though, wouldn't it? He beat a Bob Whittaker who's just back from a serious injury and hadn't fought for almost a year and a half, a shot Anderson Silva, and Gastelum. 

For me, Costa and Romero are the two main players in the division as far as tests go for Adesanya. As I said, I don't think he looks big at the weight, and I'm interested in seeing how he does against a real powerhouse who can take a shot and throw back hard.

Gastelum didn't crumble from Adesanya's shots and he came mighty close to getting the win, so I think it would be very interesting to see how he'd cope with the unpredictability of Romero, or the explosive power of Costa.

One thing I will say is that he needs to cut the Jones chat. He'd get absolutely smashed by Bones.

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Adesanya has two clear-cut wins over top 10 middleweights (Whittaker and Gastelum). Costa has either 1, or zero, depending on how you perceived the decision in the Romero fight. I don't put too much stock into Whittaker's lay off. If anything, as Jack Slack said yesterday, his biggest issue was trying to fight as if he was Kyoji Horiguchi. He probably could have picked a better gameplan and fought smarter.

It's true that Adesanya is small for a middleweight. I remember reading that he doesn't have to cut to make the 185lb weight limit. However, Gastelum has never been stopped by strikes at 185lbs - despite sharing the cage with the likes of Jacare and others. He's a tough cookie to crack for a fighter whose primary strength is striking (such as Adesanya). It's very possible that Adesanya will find it easier to confuse and light up Costa. Styles make fights.

But we shall see. 

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I'd also be interested to see how he does against Jacare, and maybe also Cannonier and Hermansson. A shame Mousasi's not around, because that would be a good match too.

EDIT: Also, on consideration about his size, I wonder how he'd do in a wrestler-heavy division like 170. He did well against Brunson, but against Woodley, Usman, Askren or Covington, he'd be facing a lot of serious questions about his defensive wrestling.

Edited by Carbomb
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6 minutes ago, jimufctna24 said:

Adesanya has two clear-cut wins over top 10 middleweights (Whittaker and Gastelum). Costa has either 1, or zero, depending on how you perceived the decision in the Romero fight. I don't put too much stock into Whittaker's lay off. If anything, as Jack Slack said yesterday, his biggest issue was trying to fight as if he was Kyoji Horiguchi. He probably could have picked a better gameplan and fought smarter.

It's true that Adesanya is small for a middleweight. I remember reading that he doesn't have to cut to make the 185lb weight limit. However, Gastelum has never been stopped by strikes at 185lbs - despite sharing the cage with the likes of Jacare and others. He's a tough cookie to crack for a fighter whose primary strength is striking (such as Adesanya). It's very possible that Adesanya will find it easier to confuse and light up Costa. Styles make fights.

But we shall see. 

I'm just saying that I think there's unanswered questions when it comes to Adesanya. I think he bears more scrutiny now because he has the belt, than someone like Costa does. If the roles were reversed we'd be asking the same thing about him.

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