Chael Sonnen thinks Israel Adesanya may soon surpass Conor McGregor as the No. 1 draw in the sport.
Middleweight champion Adesanya (24-2 MMA, 13-2 UFC), who recently regained his belt with a highlight reel knockout of Alex Pereira in April, was in attendance for UFC 290 this past Saturday. Adesanya watched Dricus Du Plessis (20-2 MMA, 6-0 UFC) emerge as the No. 1 contender when he TKOd Robert Whittaker, and jumped into the octagon to face off with him.
Adesanya, who was irked by Du Plessis’ comments on wanting to be the first UFC fighter to bring a belt back to Africa, stared him down in a racially charged face-off. Notorious for his ability to sell a fight, Sonnen lauds “The Last Stylebender” for capitalizing on the moment.
“There’s a different game being played here by Izzy,” Sonnen said on The MMA Hour. “You want to know who should be watching this? It’s not Du Plessis, and it’s not the rest of the division.
It’s Conor McGregor. Izzy’s coming for his spot. Izzy is coming for top draw in this sport, and he’s not that far away. By the way, he truly made that program for me.”
Sonnen compared Adesanya’s back-and-forth with Du Plessis to McGegor’s recent face-off with Mike Perry at BKFC 41 in April, which stole most of the headlines.
“What Adesanya did, that show’s not the same,” Sonnen said. “I was at a bareknuckle show about two months ago, and Conor McGregor showed up, and it was a massive deal from a perspective of entertainment. From having something to look forward to that you weren’t promised, and wasn’t on the marquee.
The presence of Conor was greatly felt, and it was discussed in the media long after. That’s why I bring the example of Conor and Adesanya because now I’m seeing that Izzy can play that same game, and he can play it very powerfully.”
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