We’re back for your Thursday ahead of an almighty UFC 234 with some more #KiwiUFC content. Today’s little stat check is of Israel Adesanya, with his last two fights against Brad Tavares and Derek Brunson. There wasn’t much to the Brunson fight other than Adesanya picking him apart, but the funk again lies in takedown defence which is eerily similar to the Robert Whittaker stats I highlighted on Tuesday.

Tavares scored 1 of 12 takedowns and Brunson 0 of 7, that amounts to 1 of 19 takedowns across the two fights. Adesanya is a striker and if you main weapons are a variety of strikes, you have to be able to either avoid or snuff takedown attempts consistently. That’s exactly the case for Whittaker, who doesn’t quite have the variety and pizzazz in the striking department as Adesanya, but Whittaker does have a strong wrestling base to work from. Adesanya showed against Brunson that he’s got the defensive tools to dictate fights and if Anderson Silva hopes to go down any non-striking route (which would be weird), Adesanya has proven himself capable of handling those attempts.

Adesanya has 85% takedown defence across his career and also the low key funky 71% significant striking defence.

Here’s some #KiwiUFC videos from the past 48 hours…

After a UFC 234 workout at Absolute MMA in Melbourne, UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker discusses the pressures of fighting in his home country, Kelvin Gastelum's comments about him being in too many wars against the likes of Yoel Romero, his humble beginnings and more.

Ahead of UFC 234, Robert Whittaker put on a show for media during a workout Wednesday local time at Absolute MMA in Melbourne. Whittaker defends his UFC middleweight title against Kelvin Gastelum in the main event Sunday (Saturday in North America).

On Episode 2 of UFC 234 Embedded, middleweight title challenger Kelvin Gastelum observes Super Bowl Monday down under before returning to the gym. Aussie light heavyweight Jim Crute shops for clothes, and flyweight Montana De La Rosa enjoys her first trip overseas. Middleweight co-main star Israel Adesanya arrives in Melbourne and tracks opponent Anderson Silva on social media.

Get behind the scenes access with UFC middleweight contender Israel "Stylebender" Adesanya as he touchdowns in Melbourne, Australia for UFC 234 fight week. #ufc234 #israeladesanya #ufc #kaikarafrance #shaneyoung EMG: https://emgmma.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emgaccess Twitter: https://twitter.com/emgaccess Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emgaccess/ Filmed and edited by Jeff Sainlar

Inside look at UFC contenders, Kai Kara-France and Shane Young UFC 234 fight week. Both France and Young are looking to continue their winning ways down under in Melbourne Australia. #KaiKaraFrance #UFC234 #IsraelAdesanya #ShaneYoung #EMG #AndersonSilva #CityKickboxing #KelvinGastelum #RobertWhittaker EMG: https://emgmma.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emgaccess Twitter: https://twitter.com/emgaccess Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emgaccess/