September 7, 2023 5:45 pm ET
Henry Cejudo shared some uncommon reward towards UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya.
Adesanya (24-2 MMA, 13-2 UFC) defends his middleweight title towards Sean Strickland (27-5 MMA, 14-5 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC 293 headliner at Qudos Financial institution Enviornment in Sydney. The principle card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPNews/ESPN+ and early prelims on ESPN+.
Cejudo has been rather critical of Adesanya up to now, choosing towards him in fights and even providing to coach his previous opponents. However forward of UFC 293, Cejudo credit Adesanya for his capacity to shine beneath stress.
“There’s one factor that Israel does have now, and it’s championship expertise,” Cejudo mentioned on his YouTube channel. “What I’d put at No. 1 is simply world championship expertise. Whenever you get accustomed to coaching for 5 rounds, while you get accustomed to the lights, the cameras, every part that comes with you being the very best on the planet.
“Lots of people, when the lights are literally shiny, they don’t truly present up. I’ll inform you any person who will at all times present up: It’s this man (Adesanya) proper right here. He involves battle, and he involves win. All that’s due to all these five-round fights that he’s had, and clearly taking losses and coming again and truly profitable. That’s what makes Israel particular.” Cejudo thinks huge underdog Strickland needs to go for broke if he wants to beat Adesanya. He thinks Adesanya’s capacity to set traps, feints and fakes might be an issue for Strickland – particularly when he makes use of his leg kicks. Cejudo predicts that Adesanya will chew Strickland’s legs up, then knock him out.
“The largest weapons that he does have are his kicks,” Cejudo mentioned. “So whether or not you’re southpaw or right-handed, he’s going to discover a strategy to break your basis and truly attain these legs. He does a extremely good job of – even if you’re a southpaw, like he’ll go along with that lead leg to finally kick you.”
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