4 years ago on this day, Israel Adesanya made his MSG debut and stopped Derek Brunson at UFC 230
Israel Adesanya is widely regarded as a UFC icon and is heralded among the biggest draws in all of combat sports today. Adesanya experienced a meteoric rise to MMA stardom after joining the UFC a few years ago, not to mention that he'd previously proven his mettle in kickboxing and boxing too.
'The Last Stylebender' made his UFC debut with an impressive second-round TKO win over Rob Wilkinson at UFC 221 in February 2018. Following that, Adesanya secured victories against Marvin Vettori and Brad Tavares. This earned 'Izzy' a fight against perennial UFC middleweight contender Derek Brunson.
Many believed that Brunson's outstanding grappling prowess would help him nullify Adesanya's elite striking and prove to be the kickboxing veteran's kryptonite inside the octagon. Regardless, Adesanya proved his detractors wrong as he absolutely dominated Brunson in their middleweight bout.
The Nigerian-born Kiwi successfully defended Brunson's takedown attempts, dropping him multiple times and stopping him via first-round TKO. Besides, the matchup transpired at UFC 230 on November 3, 2018, at the iconic Madison Square Garden (MSG) arena in New York.
It made Adesanya's performance even more special, as alluded to by the UFC superstar himself, since it marked his MSG debut. The UFC has now posted a tweet featuring a throwback video of Adesanya's win against Brunson at MSG.
Adesanya subsequently took to his Twitter account and responded to the tweet by suggesting that he'll put forth a similarly dominant performance in his upcoming fight, which will also take place at MSG. 'The Last Stylebender' wrote:
"Another walk in the garden"
Check out the Tweet below:
Another walk in the garden 🪴 twitter.com/ufc/status/158…
Derek Brunson gives his prediction for Israel Adesanya's trilogy fight against Alex Pereira
Reigning UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya is scheduled to defend his title against archnemesis Alex Pereira at UFC 281 on November 12. While the upcoming matchup will be the first time they'll meet in an MMA bout, it'll be their third combat sports contest against each other. Pereira holds a pair of wins over 'Izzy' in the sport of kickboxing -- one via unanimous decision and another via KO.
The fight we wanted! 💯
The fight we're getting! 🔥
Madison Square Garden, NYC! 🗽
Israel Adesanya vs. Alex Pereira for the UFC Middleweight Championship! 🏆
#UFC281 https://t.co/6zP2Ar8fKu
In an interview with Helen Yee earlier this year, Derek Brunson opined that Israel Adesanya could keep Alex Pereira at bay with his technical striking skills and outsmart him.
However, he lauded Pereira for his fearless striking style and picked him to beat Adesanya. Further insinuating that Pereira's past success against Adesanya would help him defeat him again, Brunson said:
"If I was betting, I'm a betting guy, I'm gonna bet on [Alex Pereira], not because he beat him, well yeah, because he beat him twice, but [Israel Adesanya] was winning the kickboxing match that he got knocked out in by Alex."
Watch Brunson's interview below: