Alexander
Volkanovski is expecting a return to form for Israel
Adesanya at UFC
305.
“The Last Stylebender” will return to action on Saturday for the
first time since relinquishing the middleweight strap to Sean
Strickland in the UFC 293 headliner last September. It was
perplexing effort from Adesanya, who was building a resume at 185
pounds that rivaled some of the best in the sport’s history.
Volkanovski, who has trained with Adesanya at City Kickboxing,
believes his teammate is capable of putting on a highlight reel
performance against current 185-pound champ Dricus Du
Plessis.
“I’m expecting a performance from Israel
Adesanya, like a proper performance like you’ve seen [in] the
Paulo
Costa [fight]. A fight like that where he goes out and just
does it in impressive fashion,” Volkanovski said on his YouTube
channel.
ESPN+. Order Now!
“Because Dricus is very awkward, very unorthodox. He’s got awkward
pressure, which is very hard for people to deal with. And we’ve
seen awkward pressure from Strickland give Izzy problems, but that
doesn’t happen to Izzy twice. There’s no way that fight looks the
same. There’s no way that fight looks the same. Izzy’s gonna have a
completely different adjustment, a completely different game and
he’s gonna capitalize.”
While Strickland might have been able to give Adesanya some looks
he didn’t expect, Volkanovski believes the Nigerian-born Kiwi will
be better prepared for Du Plessis.
“The awkward, unpredictable sort of style that Dricus is going to
give, I don’t feel like Izzy is going to be surprised,” Volkanovski
said. “I think Izzy might’ve been a little bit surprised at the
defensive pressure from Strickland. But I don’t think there’s any
surprises this time. I think he’s expecting an awkward fighter to
come and put the pressure on him, and I think he’s gonna be ready
to capitalize on that…”
Adesanya has authored some notable finishes over the course of his
career, putting away the likes of Alex
Pereira, Robert
Whittaker and Costa during his UFC tenure. Volkanovski belives
that a rejuvenated Adesanya can do something similar on Saturday
night.
“I think Israel
Adesanya is going to put on that type of performance where he
goes out and gets a crazy finish, and that’s saying something
because Dricus is no joke,” he said.