Israel Adesanya is excited to fight a new challenger.
Adesanya is set to face Jared Cannonier in the main event of UFC 276 on July 2 in Las Vegas, Nevada. It’s an intriguing matchup given Cannonier has legit one-punch KO power and is a great striker, much like Adesanya.
Israel Adesanya is Ready for a “New Song” in Jared Cannonier
The middleweight champ is coming off back-to-back rematch wins over Robert Whittaker and Marvin Vettori. While “The Last Stylebender” believes Cannonier is very similar to his past opponents, he appreciates the fact that he brings a new challenge.
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“I feel like he poses a danger the same way all my past opponents pose dangerous threats,” Adesanya said at UFC 276 media day. “They keep talking about, ‘Power, power, power.’ Have you ever heard that before when someone fights me? ‘Oh, power this. Power that.’ It’s the same old song. F*cking get it off repeat. Pick a new song. I’m just glad I have a new blood to fight in this fight. Yeah, it’s time to eat.”
Adesanya Brings the Hype to His Title Fights
Along with being a fresh challenger for Adesanya, Cannonier is someone the champion has talked about fighting for years. He has said Cannonier is the dark horse of the division for quite some time. That is something Adesanya says he does on purpose to add hype to his title fights and get shine on his challengers so that when he beats them it looks that more special.
“Not in the sh*t sense, but I’ve always picked my opponents,” Adesanya said. “Yeah, people pick and choose their opponents on the way up to the UFC because they want to pad their records. When I’m in the UFC, I pick and choose my opponents because I want to pad my records with legit contenders. So I pick and chose them a while back. I’m glad they didn’t fumble this time and he made it to the dance, so here we are. Let’s go.”
