The current middleweight king took UFC like a storm. After two years from signing in the UFC, he became the interim champion, and after that, he defeated Robert Whittaker for the undisputed title fight. For this moment, he is dominating in this division and has never suffered a loss in middleweight. His only loss was against Jan Blachowicz when Israel Adesanya fought in the light heavyweight division to become another double champion. Adesanya is genuinely one of the best strikers, and as it looks like he will dominate in this weight category for a long time.
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Adesanya will fight Robert Whitaker for the second time in 2022. Robert Whittaker is the only one who seems like, can defeat the current champion. Well, he suffered brutal KO loss in their first bout, but we have seen much improved Whittaker after that bout. He fought three times and earned victories in all of them. He defeated Daren Till, Jared Cannonier, and Kelvin Gastelum in a very dominant way. He also showed great wrestling and takedown skills during his last performance against Kelvin, and this takedown might be very useful against The previous style bender.
The #2 contender for this moment is Marvin Vettori. The Italian dream had two opportunities to beat Adesanya, but he failed to do that in 3 rounder and five-rounder battles. However, he defeated one of the most prospective contenders, and he protected his rankings.
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Jared Cannonier is next in the rankings list, but he already suffered a loss against Whittaker, so he might need another victory to earn the title shot. In his last five bouts, he earned four victories. His last appearance was against Kelvin Gastelum, where Jared earned victory and defended his spot in the ranking.
The #5 ranked contender is Paulo Costa. Still, Adesanya already defeated him via KO, and after that loss, Costa suffered another loss against Marvin Vettori, so he is far away from the rematch with Adesanya. In addition, Paulo had sad, serious problems with cutting weight for his last fight, and he held the fight in the light heavyweight bout. Because of that, Dana White wants him to change the weight category and move to the light heavyweight because, as the UFC president said, he is not sure that he will not cause the same problems on his next bout.
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For me, one of the greatest contenders of the division is Sean Strickland. The amazing boxer with great takedown defense and unstoppable cardio. Firstly, he was fighting in the welterweight, but he changed the weight category and achieved some success. He had two years break from 2018-2020, but he came back even stronger in the previous year. He earned four victories in a row, all of them in a very dominant way. He defeated amazing grappler Brendan Allen and defeated Urial Hall in his latest bout. I think he will enter in the top 5 and hope I will witness him fighting against Adesanya.
Another promising contender for 2020 was Kevin Holland, but he completely failed in 2021. He fought three times and could not earn victory in any of them. However, as many MMA fans say, and I agree too, he is one of the rarest fighters who can compete in striking with the current champion, Israel Adesanya. The reach advantage and the black belt in Tae Kwon Do, promises is fireworks against Adesanya.
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Also, Blonde Derek Brunson has remained undefeated since he suffered the loss against Israel Adesanya. For this moment, Brunson is the #4 ranked contender. He was considered gatekeeper, but he had already defeated three rising stars like Daren Till, Kevin Holland, and Edmen Shahbazyan, so he moved up as the contender. As he said, he was not preparing well for his first bout against Adesanya, and now after he changed his team, he is ready to outwrestle the current champion and finally earn the UFC gold around his waist.
Also, the latest and one of the most exciting contenders is Alex Pereira, who just made his debut at UFC 268 and earned a second-round KO with a flying knee. Alex Pereira is the only fighter who managed and served KO loss to the current king of the UFC’s middleweight division, Israel Adesanya. They fought two times under kickboxing rules, and once Pereira earned a Brutal KO loss via left hook, and in the second bout, he earned unanimous decision victory. So it will be interesting to see their trilogy under MMA rules. Also, we have to realize that Pereira is already 34 years old, and MMA is a different kind of sport. Also, Adesanya improved a lot since their battle, which was held in 2015, so Adesanya might earn the opportunity to avenge his loss if Pereira managed and went through the wrestlers in the middleweight.
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