Watch: UFC fighter Angela Hill breaks down brilliant detail in Israel Adesanya's knockout of Robert Whittaker
Israel Adesanya stopped Robert Whittaker in the second round to claim the UFC middleweight title at UFC 243. In a video uploaded by ESPN MMA on Twitter, UFC women's strawweight Angela Hill can be seen breaking down Israel Adesanya's countering strategy. Speaking about Israel Adesanya's approach, Angela Hill said:
"So, Izzy likes to punch you dead tired. And when they attack, he leans just out of the way. And every time they do that, they get a little more desperate to hit him. So, finally he’s gonna slip to the inside, and see how they (opponent) are over-extended, they can’t really reel back on the counter. But Adesanya, he does a really slick counter where he doesn’t just slip and throw the punch, but he slips and leans back and all that power goes up into their chin. They over-extend, he slips, he leans back and then he throws another one to follow up. Boom! And that is what knocked out Whittaker."
Israel Adesanya has lethal counters
Angela Hill is not the only one aware of the mastery in Israel's Adesanya counters. Robert Whittaker has been vocal about his dislike of Israel Adesanya but could not help but admit that 'The Last Stylebender' is in a different league. In the aftermath of Adesanya's victory against Paulo Costa at UFC 253, Robert Whittaker told ESPN MMA:
Did I expect him to finish him in that fashion? No, I did not. But everything leading up to the finish I saw as a possibility. He looked good in that fight man, gotta give it to him. I don’t like the guy [laughs] but he’s bloody good.… I think Izzy really controlled him. A lot of people are gonna say Paulo Costa didn’t do much, and maybe he didn’t, but Izzy controlled that fight very, very well. It’s very hard for people to speak on Costa, why he didn’t do what he did because he was in there. It’s hard to move forward against a counter striker like that, especially when he’s making you pay every time you go in. Izzy just controlled that fight. Hats off to Izzy, good fight.