Joe Rogan gives us his breakdown of Israel Adesanya headlining UFC 276.
The world-famous podcast host and UFC color commentator is excited to see the current UFC Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya return to action against Jared Cannonier this Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, NV this July 2.
Rogan shared his thoughts on the fight and Adesanya’s dominant reign.
Joe Rogan previews Israel Adesanya at UFC 276
In the latest episode of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Rogan talked about the upcoming main event at UFC 276. Rogan expanded on Adesanya’s expertise in striking and referenced his previous outing with Paulo Costa as an example of his abilities.
“Izzy’s just the most sophisticated of strikers. If you watch striking, if you’re a person who likes striking, and you like setups and stuff, he’s doing something very different because he’s getting guys to move a certain way. He’s reading you, like when you see Izzy’s moving around, he’s reading you”
“He’s downloading all your data and he can see weaknesses in people. A great example is Paulo Costa… Izzy just picked him apart and made him look foolish.
“By the end of the first round, you could see he was baffled, he was f**ked cos he knew, ‘I can’t hit this dude and he’s standing right in front of me.’ He would swing at Izzy and he’d be just out of range, and then he’d make him pay.”
Rogan thinks that ‘Stylebender’ is the perfect MMA athlete for striking fans. He also revealed that he reached out to the Nigerian-Kiwi before he made his way into the UFC.
“He’s just so slick, man. For a guy like me who’s been interested in striking his whole life, seeing a guy like this that was a top-flight kickboxer make his way into MMA.
“I reached out to Izzy before he ever fought in the UFC. I saw him fight in kickboxing matches and I reached out to him on Instagram, way back in the day. He was telling me that he’s taking some fights in China but he’s going to come to the UFC but he’s going to do it the right way. He did it the right way.”
Rogan talks about Alex Pereira fighting on the same card
Alex Pereira, the only man to have ever knocked out Adesanya, joined the UFC last November and will be fighting the fourth-ranked contender at 185 lbs Sean Strickland in his next outing, which happens to be on the same card as his old foe.
“The way he describes it is like a lot of people are just button smashers. Like if you’re playing a game, try to make something happen. He’s setting things up, and there’s other guys that set things up. That’s one of the things that make this weekend so interesting.
“It’s because he’s on the same card as Alex Pereira, and Alex Pereira knocked him out. He KO’d him with a left hook in a kickboxing match.”
“They’re basically trying to fast-track him to fight with Izzy… That said, the Izzy from back then is not the Izzy of today. He’s way better now, way better now.”
Joe Rogan is reported to be on commentary duties along with the rest of the broadcast team at UFC 276.
