Images of Israel’s Adesanya bursting into tears after making her UFC debut went viral before the first defense of her middleweight title.
The “Last Stylebender” defends his 185 pound title against the fearsome Yoel Romero at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night at UFC 248.
Despite Romero’s intimidating stature, his incredible history of wrestling and his competitors’ reluctance to face the Cuban, Adesanya made sure to call the goalkeeper of the middleweight division to define his legacy.
The 30-year-old’s journey has accelerated at an incredible pace since he set foot in the octagon on February 10, 2018 against Rob Wilkinson.
Despite the insistence of the American to get the fight on the web and test the ground game of the former kickboxing world champion, Adesanya finally found his rhythm as he did in each of his 18 fights until now.
After landing uppercuts and knees for fun, the fight was canceled and the Nigerian-New Zealander told the rest of the middleweight division that there was a “new dog” in the yard.
Despite the flashy techniques on display and the confident statement thereafter, images emerged of Adesanya bursting into tears after the fight as he walked away from the octagon alongside coach Eugene Bareman.
The City Kickboxing head coach, who also helped Alex Volkanovski achieve his UFC world title dreams, couldn’t help but smile with pride as his star student spoke throughout the fight with him.
Regardless of what happens on Saturday night and even beyond for Adesanya, the skillful striker will live this moment in history forever.