Israel Adesanya has been told he is a "boring" UFC champion for not seeking the finish in his recent fights.
Both of middleweight champion Adesanya's past two title defences have come by decision wins. 'The Last Stylebender' went all five rounds with bitter rival Robert Whittaker in February and won a lopsided decision against Marvin Vettori last June.
Adesanya has been criticised by some fans for being comfortable with going the distance when he could instead try and finish his opponents. Middleweight prospect Joseph Holmes has labelled Adesanya as "boring" but can understand why he fights the way he does.
“He is definitely a boring fighter,” Holmes said of Adesanya to Low Kick MMA. “I’m not really interested in guys who’re able to go five minutes, it’s perfect. I commend that, lot of respect for that. But wanting to go five five-minute rounds is not fun. Nobody wants to see that.”
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“I’m just the type of fighter that looks for a finish, I start the fight expecting a finish. That’s what I like to watch. All of the fighters I like to watch get finishes like my favourite fighter is Valentina Shevchenko. She’s always looking for finishes. That’s just what I like to see, and I know that’s what the fans like to see.”
“My division is inhabited by a champion who doesn’t like finishes. When I see that it’s just like, ‘yeah well’. Hopefully, we can get him out of there so we can get some interesting fights going on but nah, he just doesn’t like to finish people.”
Four of Adesanya's 11 UFC wins have come by knockout, with the rest coming by decision. The New Zealander had an infamous title fight with Yoel Romero in 2020 that was heavily criticised for the lack of action from both fighters.
Pound-for-pound No.3 Adesanya, who is unbeaten in the UFC at 185-pounds, is scheduled to make the fifth defence of his middleweight title at UFC 276 on July 2 against top contender Jared Cannonier. Holmes thinks Cannonier has a "huge" chance against Adesanya with his takedown threat.
“Cannonier has a huge shot if he could if he would go for those takedowns off the cage and try and get him out of there," Holmes continued. "Israel just does a good job of making people fight long fights and that’s just not interesting to watch."
