Setting the Kiwi-UFC Scene For UFC 253
Of all the kiwi sports yarns to come out of the 2020 hibernation, the preparation of City Kickboxing's UFC fighters and takeover of this weekend's UFC 253 in the United Arab Emirates is my pick for the funkiest yarn to spin. This little yarn has a deep connection to the roots of Aotearoa as Israel Adesanya, Kai Kara-France, Brad Riddell, Shane Young, their training partners and CKB coaching staff lived at the CKB gym - marae styles.
Professional athletes who earn that living by going 1-outs with another high quality fighter, living together in the gym they train at. That's beautifully kiwi and on top of those grassroots, kiwi-roots vibes from the preparation is the fact that four CKB fighters will be on the same card of the world's best MMA organisation. Our job at the Niche Cache is to broadcast Aotearoa's sporting excellence as the best sporting nation in the world and four fighters who were living together in central Auckland will now takeover a UFC event.
In February, 2019 at UFC 234 in Melbourne there were three CKB fighters on the same card with Adesanya fighting Anderson Silva, Young fighting Austin Arnett and Kara-France fighting Raulian Paiva. Three wins.
In October, 2019 at UFC 243 again in Melbourne, there were three CKB fighters on the same card as Adesanya fought Robert Whittaker, Dan Hooker fought Al Iaquinta and Brad Riddell made his UFC debut against Jamies Mullarkey. Three fights, three more wins.
Then, earlier this year in Auckland it was Hooker's turn to headlined the event, after watching Riddell and Kara-France grab wins. Three fights, three more wins.
Hooker was able to keep the Kiwi-UFC train moving along during the hibernation, losing to Dustin Poirier in June over in Las Vegas. A hectic battle and Hooker's stocks took a wee boost in the loss, now Hooker's chillin' as he waits for his next fight and that's another wrinkle of funk as those three events listed above all had three CKB fighters on them and now CKB have four fighters on the same card and Hooker isn't involved.
The takeover is live and UFC 253 is shaping up as a fascinating Sunday. At the top of the card is Adesanya vs Paulo Costa and this fight alone is enough to get a minor fizz going as Adesanya is a genuine international superstar, who endured a weird fight against Yoel Romero early in March. Adesanya had to deal with Romero's antics and it's important to look back at the detail of that Romero bout to forecast a general style in Adesanya vs Costa; Adesanya's style is built around fakes, faints, variety of strikes and precision.
None of that was important vs Romero though as Romero literally did nothing. In defeating Whittaker, Adesanya lured Whittaker into action with his body-faints and tapped into his dance background to lean back and pop Whittaker. Romero wasn't having none of that and he locked up, shut up shop and didn't engage in ... anything.
There is no chance that Costa will take that route as Costa is a striking monster who powers forward, using his size and stature to blast opponents away. I'll dive deeper into all these fights during the week, right now though this feels like an ideal match up for Adesanya considering his movement, precision and skill in manipulating his opponent. In more simple terms, this is a contest of power vs finesse and Adesanya's stated numerous times that he's the bloke to re-arrange thoughts of the big monster being the most dangerous fighter.
Like Romero, Costa may have some tricks to complicate matters. For those watching Adesanya fight for the first time, I suspect you will witness Adesanya's trickery and thus the wizardry of Eugene Bareman and his CKB coaching staff in all it's glory. For those who have watched the rise of Adesanya, this could be another textbook session of the CKB style.
Adesanya vs Costa will be watched by millions around the world. Don't overlook that as both characters have shown themselves to be engaging and fun, both with worldwide fan-bases. I reckon we are watching the rise of Aotearoa's greatest combat athlete ever and if you're not intrigued by how Adesanya thinks or speaks, absorbing insight and mana, then maybe the fact that Adesanya made his UFC debut early in 2018 lays out his fighting brilliance. In two years, Adesanya went from making his UFC debut to winning the middleweight title with eight wins; the last four wins were against the best of the division.
Kara-France will fight Brandon Royval in a flyweight fight that will be Royval's second in the UFC. Making his UFC debut back in late 2018, Kara-France grabbed three wins in a row before a loss in December last year and the bounce back win in Auckland earlier this year. All of those results have come via decision for Kara-France and another aspect of CKB's style could be on show here as Kara-France appears to be the superior striker vs Royval's wrestling/jiu-jitsu; CKB always have their takedown defence on point for this kind of fights.
Rankings mean little in the UFC other than a basic lay out of a division's premier talent and Kara-France is #7 in the flyweight division. Other than Adesanya and Hooker, Kara-France is the only CKB fighter who is ranked in the top-10 of their division and there is a high chance that Kara-France becomes of hefty factor in this division if he can defeat Royval.
Shane Young returns to the UFC octagon after a long absence via injury - an injury that almost put a stop to his career. Having made his debut back in 2017 as a late call up to fight one of CKB's current champions Alexander Volkanovski which went about as expected considering Volkanovski was in the process of climbing through the division, Young then sealed a win in mid-2018 and then early 2019 before a long absence.
With a TKO win and a decision win, Young now fights Ludovit Klein as Klein's stepping in for Nate Landwehr who was scratched with covid issues. This will be Klein's UFC debut and he has split his pre-UFC wins between KO/TKO and submissions evenly, meaning that he presents an intriguing challenge for Young. Similar to Kara-France, Young is primarily a high-output striker who will pop out a takedown attempt when required and as Young is slipping back into the CKB-UFC takeover mix, I expect Young to be eager to stamp his mark in the featherweight division; where Volkanovski is champion.
That's more than enough Kiwi-UFC action to make me rather excited and within that three-fight package outlined above sit the top-tier worldwide superstar stuff along with two little kiwis trying to settled into their UFC careers. Having a fourth Kiwi-UFC fight though, not only adds to the depth of this card, it's Brad Riddell and I've got Riddell as a key lad to watch out for coming out of CKB.
Hailing from Christchurch, Riddell will be in his third UFC fight after wins over Mullarkey and Magomed Mustafaev (in Auckland earlier this year). Riddell now fights Alex da Silva Coelho who is also in his third UFC fight, with a loss then a win and in his two wins, Riddell has shown immense striking skill to go with his grappling that withstood plenty of challenges from Mustafaev.
Riddell isn't much of a factor in the UFC right now as he's still in a growth stage with the UFC, plus he's had two decision wins which have both been entertaining throw-downs but not the slick, dominant displays that command attention. That's all good as I believe Riddell is steadily adding to his game and whether it's his own Youtube content outlining his craft or the fact that Riddell was part of the CKB coaching staff that cornered Volkanovski vs Max Holloway; Riddell is super skillful.
How the preparation for UFC 253 impacts the CKB fighters will be interesting as well. While I'm on the side of the marae styles living situation being a low key boost for these lads, one could make a decent argument either way. Chuck in the travel factor as CKB are rolling deep to cover their four fighters and have had to A) wait for the best passage to UAE and B) embark on that journey to UAE. None of which would have been smooth-sailing.
One last note is that two more CKB fighters are on the brink of grabbing a UFC opportunity with matua Eugene telling Combat TV that Carlos Ulberg and Mike 'Blood' Diamond are next in line. Perhaps four CKB fighters on the same card won't be a peak for too long and this may just be a platform from which the takeover hits a nek level.
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Peace and love.