2021 City Kickboxing UFC Tracker: UFC 263 Debrief
In dropping his standard dose of post-fight gems, Israel Adesanya spoke for all young kiwis as he outlined the backwards nature of Aotearoa's marijuana and coward-punch/murder laws. Having dismantled his latest challenger Marvin Vettori to defend his UFC middleweight title Adesanya, grabbing Vettori's bum mid-fight and dropping sublime kiwi lingo in calling Robert Whittaker 'that other cunt' there was an immense wave of Adesanya's greatness as a fighter and a leader for young kiwis.
Adesanya had a crack at moving up a weight division to fight Jan Blachowicz and it didn't work out. All good, take those learnings forward and hold your head high. Adesanya has this crazy thread throughout his UFC fights where he can freeze his opponent in a very literal sense against Yoel Romero and in a more subtle sense where chunkier strikers like Paulo Costa and Vettori can't process all of Adesanya's action quick enough to land their own hefty blows.
I know this feeling well because I've balanced the awe of Adesanya's skillset and the prowess of his coaches, with being under-whelmed with his opponents. Maybe it's the bright lights of fighting one of the UFC's biggest superstars, although seeing what Adesanya does in an octagon and all the layers of twists, turns and fakes has me continuously impressed with how Adesanya can freeze or sedate his opponents. Vettori tried hard, yet he couldn't find the time or space to unleash strikes and that's the Adesanya effect.
After landing 26 of 27 kicks against Paulo Costa in just over one round, Adesanya delivered a similar approach in cutting down Vettori's front leg. Across the five rounds vs Vettori, Adesanya landed 41 of 43 kicks and along with Adesanya's efficient work in snuffing Vettori's 14 takedown attempts we were graced with the three quintessential angles of the middleweight champion; fakes and faints, kicks to the front leg and effective defensive grappling.
Of course, there is a lot more to Adesanya's game and these three aspects of his work are merely the most common tools to build out dominant wins. When these three aspects are on offer and Adesanya can pick his opponent apart, someone like Vettori looks out of his depth. For his City Kickboxing comrade Brad Riddell, we're still in the learning phase of his UFC career and as Riddell sealed a decision win over Drew Dober; prepare for Riddell to blast off.
Equally as skilled as Adesanya in the striking department, Riddell is a wee bit more active in offensive grappling. Riddell attempted 11 takedowns against Dober, five of which were effectively executed and spread across all three rounds. Ridell now has four UFC fights and in every fight he has landed more strikes than his opponent with a takedown in every fight. This fight vs Dober was the first time Riddell registered more than one takedown and this presents a rather complete fighter who combines world-class striking with an attacking takedown game.
Riddell's striking is bonkers. He doesn't quite have the same freezing style as Adesanya, yet Riddell also plays the long game with fakes and setting up strikes for later rounds. Riddell landed hefty right hands and had passages where he'd throw a flurry on punches, slip to his left and land a hearty left hook as Dober sussed out where Riddell was. Dober landed 3 of 3 kicks in the first round before just a single kick across the second and third rounds, while Riddell landed 2+ kicks in every round.
Both Adesanya and Riddell are the highest representations of City Kickboxing's wizardry. They epitomise the history of Aotearoa combat sports (boxing, kick-boxing etc) and are always making progress in the grappling nature of Mixed Martial Arts. Team CKB's coaches who cornered these two were Eugene Bareman, Mike Angove, Andrei Paulet and Tristam Apikatoa.
Team CKB bounced back in a major way and like the Blackcaps, CKB is a new presence in my Aotearoa Team Culture upper echelon. Adesanya and Riddell won fights tonight, both represented young kiwis in the best way under the guidance of their CKB elders. The tough start to 2021 in the UFC octagon for Team CKB doesn't compare to what they've gone through in the past few weeks and this is another chance to learn how to come together in love and support for each other, then expressing yourself in the highest level of your sport.
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