2021 City Kickboxing UFC Tracker: UFC 259 Preview (Adesanya, Kara-France, Ulberg)
This Sunday Aotearoa's UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya moves up a weight division in pursuit of Champ-Champ status against light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz. Prior to Adesanya's main event, Carlos Ulberg will make his UFC debut in the light heavyweight division and Kai Kara-France will be hunting a win in the flyweight division. The fact that these lads were part of the City Kickboxing whanau supporting Junior Fa last weekend is par for the course of these crazy times and logistical niggly for Team CKB.
An overlooked factor in what CKB are doing is their boxing unit that works alongside their Mixed Martial Arts fighters. Doug Viney runs the boxing department and CKB didn't just have Fa in action last weekend, they also had Hemi Aiho and Panuve Helu; boxing depth.
Team CKB quickly flipped into UFC mode as they only arrived in Las Vegas earlier this week. Also notable here is that Brad Riddell and Shane Young have fights coming up in the last two weekends of March, meaning the Team CKB is juggling five fights across three events this month. Mike Angove was part of the Parker vs Fa broadcast and he's not in Las Vegas for this trip, but is likely to re-up with Riddell and Young. This leaves Eugene Bareman, Andrei Paulet and Tristam Apikatoa as the coaches from CKB who have made this trip for UFC 259, plus Tiger Muay Thai wrestling guru Frank Hickman - who was with Hooker.
As for the fights...
Carlos Ulberg vs Kennedy Nzechukwu
Ulberg won a UFC contract with a sizzling knockout late last year, now he gets his first UFC scrap against a bigger lad in Nzechukwu. Ulberg's a big lad himself, although Nzechukwu is an inch taller with a five inch reach advantage and Nzechukwu has three UFC fights while Ulberg's in his debut. Don't expect too much wrestling or slow funk here as these two are predominantly strikers and for Ulberg, he's already shown the same hip-faints/herky-jerky movements that have made Adesanya such a nightmare to fight.
Expect Ulberg to get busy striking, only once he has sussed out the distance and reactions from Nzechukwu. Ulberg has the full arsenal of CKB strikes and with two fighters early in their UFC journeys, I'm intrigued as to how Ulberg uses these CKB ideals to get within distance to land the heavy shots; fakes, faints, stance switching and setting things up.
Kai Kara-France vs Rogerio Bontorin
Churning out 5.16 significant strikes per minute, Kara-France is hectic. His opponent Bontorin is more of a submission artist and after Kara-France got a bit too eager in his last loss to Brandon Royval, putting himself into a guillotine choke, Kara-France would be wise to stay out of such range.
Kara-France has the CKB grappling defence (90 percent takedown defence) and can mix in his own takedowns when he's in a zone, his reputation though stems from his striking. This has resulted in two 'Fight of the Night' nods in his six UFC fighters and one of them was his loss to Royval. There's no KO/TKO victories for Kara-France in the UFC though as his four wins have all come via decision. A win here vs Bontorin will either come from Kara-France flexing with his striking prowess, or battling hard to showcase his defensive grappling and picking his shots.
Israel Adesanya vs Jan Blachowicz
Moving up a weight division, Adesanya is still taller than Blachowicz and has a slight reach advantage. Blachowicz is a natural light heavyweight though and is thicker than Adesanya, which in theory means that Blachowicz will have more power in his shots and if he can get close to Adesanya then Blachowicz may have a strength advantage - either on the mat or up against the cage.
Adesanya's control of distance, thus allowing him to land his shots without being hit or taken down, will be crucial and has been crucial throughout his UFC tenure. Calf-kicks are all the rage in the UFC now and their trendy status could play into how they are used as they are thrown up as key weapons right now, however Adesanya has a wide range of kicks and uses them consistently to control distance.
Against Robert Whittaker, Adesanya didn't need to operate his kicks so much as Whittaker was plowing forward. Adesanya landed 7 of 7 kicks in the two rounds, which then became 26 of 27 kicks landed in the two rounds vs Paulo Costa. Costa was the bigger lad and while Costa was cumbersome compared to Adesanya, you don't want to get hit by that kind of power and Adesanya dictated proceedings with his kicking game.
Blachowicz may opt for kicks to limit Adesanya's movement and disrupt his flow. Adesanya's wil keep Blachowicz and his power away, by controlling the distance and set up his hands. Team CKB will have some sort of opening in mind and all their fakes/faints, as well as legit strikes such as these kicks, are fired off to get a reaction and set up that key striking combo. When watching Adesanya, look out for the fakes/faints and what comes after them as this will be important in understanding what Adesanya and Team CKB are targeting.
The calf-kick trend is interesting inside the UFC bubble. Adesanya's well versed in all that happens in the UFC as both fighters have shown that kicks are key weapons for them, whether Adesanya leans into this calf-kick trend or goes against the grain in typical Adesanya fashion will be a fun idea to follow. Adesanya is the best striker in the UFC and these type of striking trends are generally behind what Team CKB has been doing.
Does Adesanya have the power to get a KO/TKO?
Use whatever label you want; sniper, ninja, wizard. Adesanya is all about precision and timing, after all those minor tactical nuances in the fakes/faints. Blachowicz is the bigger lad and this is a curious case of power vs precision, the beast vs the ninja. Adesanya definitely has the ability to drop his bigger opponent, however this will come via putting his opponent in a compromised position and building with sharp strikes. Blachowicz on the other hand - he might just land a hefty shot.
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Peace and love.