Love him, or hate him, Israel Adesanya finally defeated the only man to have ever defeated Adesanya multiple times across professional martial arts, Alex Pereira. Izzy has waited seven long years for this moment. However, avenging his UFC Title loss was not the only history that Adesanya made. After Kamaru Usman lost to Leon Edwards at UFC 286, fighters fell to 3-12 in immediate championship rematches. Adesanya added the fourth win joining Amanda Nunes, Deiveson Figueiredo, and Randy Couture to be the only fighters in UFC history to win immediate rematches. That's an elite company. Adesanya also became the only Middleweight ever to regain the title. The Middleweight division has had some great champions over the years including Anderson Silva, Robert Whittaker (who he beat twice) Chris Weidman, and Michael Bisping. Adesanya even beat Silva, but it was a very old Anderson Silva. That said Anderson is still an amazing name to have on your resume as he is the Middleweight GOAT. Yet, after Adesanya defeated Pereira he officially defeated every Middleweight contender and there isn't much left for him to prove. He has been in ten title fights (one Light Heavyweight to Jan Blachowicz) and he is 8-2. Adesanya currently has six title defenses. Anderson Silva successfully defended the belt ten times. Maybe Adesanya's goal is to clear out the division one more time, that way he can break Silva's record.
Stylebender's resume is already amazing, how much more does he really have to do to enter the GOAT conversation? He's been in the UFC for five years and has been one of the most active fighters as he is closing in on Anderson Silva's title defense record. I imagine Israel still has intentions of earning the Light Heavyweight Title, but even with his win over Poatan, it seems like a tall task. As always, Stylebender has options on who his next opponent will be. He said he won't be running the UFC trilogy with Pereira, but I'd still say it is an option. Probably not the most likely option, but an option nonetheless. Based on the UFC 287 post-fight press conference it seems like Izzy wants the next Middleweight Contender he hasn't faced, Dricus Du Plessis in Africa. We'll see what the chances of that are, but the UFC has been wanting to go to Africa for years, Dana always brings that up in press conferences. With Nigerian-born Adesanya re-emerging as the champ, it seems like it may be pushed harder than ever before. Especially, since Dricus Du Plessis is South African. Adesanya vs Du Plessis somewhere in Africa would be awesome for the people of Africa. Jan Blachowicz took to social media to offer Izzy a challenge to avenge his only other loss. Jan even said he wants to meet Adesanya at Middleweight for the title. That would be epic. That fight could take place anywhere. If Stylebender asks for Blachowicz to be his seventh title defense he would join the elite company with GSP as the only fighters to avenge every loss they have ever had. Would that be enough to place Adesanya ahead of Anderson Silva? Maybe, but then there is also Khamzat. Chimaev probably needs a Middleweight win before he can challenge for the title, but the Adesanya vs Chimaev potential matchup is already giving me chills.
Since Izzy has conquered his boogeyman in Poatan, I could definitely see Stylebender going on another title run. Imagine Izzy goes on another five-fight win streak starting with Du Plessis in Africa, then avenging his loss against Jan, being the guy to end the Khamzat hype train, and then beating either Pereira/Whittaker/Gastelum/Costa again and maybe Strickland or Dolidze finally gets their shot at the end. Personally, I hope Izzy goes on that run, the rematch on the run is with Gastelum, and then he decides to attempt to become the double champ and by that time Pereira is the Light Heavyweight Champion. How awesome would that be, Izzy goes on to break Silva's title defense record while Alex conquers the Light Heavyweight division, and their UFC rubber match is decided one weight class up. You couldn't write a better story than that. If that did happen, it wouldn't play well for Poatan either considering the blue corner has won every matchup. All in all, hats off to Adesanya for making history. I can't wait to see what else he has in store.
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