When you hear of a featherweight taking on a middleweight in any fight, the odds are always on the bigger guy. But if you happen to be UFC featherweight champ Alexander Volkanovski then you just might be the better choice.
A video released a few weeks back showed Volkanovski sparring with UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and taking him down. We know Adesanya has a great ground game and is much bigger than Volkanovski. But he nevertheless manages to overpower ‘The Last Stylebender’ relatively easily.
Alexander Volkanovski and Israel Adesanya Grapple
The video is captioned “P4P Number 1 & 2 for a reason.” and shows Adesanya pinned up against the wall with Volkanovski leaning into him. They struggle for a bit with Adesanya doing his best to avoid getting taken down.
But Adesanya attempts a flying triangle only to get shut down but is ultimately toppled by the much smaller Volkanovski into an under guard.
The transition is particularly spectacular and you would not expect it to be so sudden. Nevertheless, seeing Volkanovski topple Adesanya is a sign that he might have something in store for Makhachev’s scary grappling chops when the two collide in Perth next year.
Both Israel Adesanya and Alexander Volkanovski are training for major upcoming fights. Volkanovski is set to face the recently crowned UFC lightweight champ Islam Makhachev at UFC Perth next year.
We know that Makhachev has an exceptional ground game and submission pedigree thanks to his lifelong training with UFC legend Khabib Nurmagomedov. So, Volkanovski’s takedown game must be on point to go up against Makhachev’s Dagestani training.
Old Rivals, New Scrappers for Israel Adesanya
Meanwhile, Adesanya has his own big fight against the fast-rising Alex Pereira. The Brazilian Pereira is the only fighter to KO Adesanya, twice. This was before Adesanya came to the UFC during his time as a kickboxer. Nevertheless, reputations are on the line and fans would expect Adesanya to avenge his losses.
With that said, Pereira also has a lot of fans behind him and his hype is certainly real. He has torn through the competition since he joined the UFC.
His recent round 1 KO win over Sean Strickland marks him a top fighter in the division. Pereira also mocked Adesanya’s training methods in an Instagram post saying, “Training with a tennis ball is easy. I want to see him train with a hoverboard.” Check it out here:
The Israel Adesanya vs Alex Pereira fight is set for UFC 281 at the iconic Madison Square Garden arena.
