Henry Cejudo on Israel Adesanya: ‘He hypes a lot and doesn’t deliver’
Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya has taken over the 185-pound division, but former two-division champion Henry Cejudo hasn’t been impressed with “The Last Stylebender.”
Adesanya successfully defended his title in the UFC 276 main event, defeating Jared Cannonier by unanimous decision. Cejudo considers Adesanya ‘another one-dimensional fighter,’ and thinks the UFC should stop promoting him as much.
“It’s crazy when you come out to The Undertaker. You didn’t put a performance on Saturday night. It was lame,” Cejudo said during his YouTube segment The Triple C & Schmo Show. “Main events are special. If he’s not performing, UFC stop pushing this dude. He’s a decision maker. The only fight I can say where he really beat somebody really good was beating (Robert) Whittaker and knocking him out. Paulo (Costa), I don’t know where the hell his head was at.
“I’m still not impressed with this dude. I think Alex Pereira is really going to really – because both of these dudes are just strikers with semi-good defense, but I’m going to have to go with Pereira because Israel never demonstrates any kind of takedowns and things like that. He’s another one-dimensional guy that’s good at what he does. It’s a shame that these dudes at 185 pounds can’t take the fight where Yan (Błachowicz) has taken him. You take him into deep waters and it’s over.”
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Adesanya resume includes a pretty impressive list of fighters. He holds two wins over former champion Robert Whittaker, two wins over No. 2 ranked Marvin Vettori. He’s defeated Derek Brunson and Paulo Costa. In fact, Adesanya holds wins over every fighter ranked in the Top 5.
Despite the names on Adesanya’s hit list, Cejudo simply doesn’t think Adesanya delivers, or at least not anymore. Adesanya’s last four bouts have gone the distance.
“He hypes a lot and doesn’t deliver. He talks a lot and doesn’t deliver. It’s been like that with him for a minute now. If you’re going to call people out and do all this other stuff, finish them. Put a beating on people. Be spectacular. People look more forward to his entrance than his actual fight,” Cejudo said.