Chael Sonnen Calls Israel Adesanya the Greatest Middleweight of All Time
Former two-time middleweight title challenger Chael Sonnen dubbed Israel Adesanya the greatest middleweight of all time after Adesanya’s UFC 287 performance.
Adesanya knocked out Alex Pereira in the UFC 287 main event to recapture the 185-pound championship. Pereira had previously beaten Adesanya three times prior. He holds two kickboxing wins over Adesanya including a knockout win in the second match, and he defeated ‘The Last Stylebender’ at UFC 281 to win the UFC belt.
“I believe Izzy to be the greatest middleweight of all time. I say this as a middleweight,” said Sonnen on his YouTube channel. “Many have said I am the greatest of all time, but I think it’s him. I think it’s him for a lot of reasons. In addiction to the fact that he cleaned out an entire division and did what Dana White is probably laughing at.”
“Then term lapping a division was brought to our sport – I realize it’s like NASCAR, but it was brought to our sport because of Adesanya,” continued Sonnen. “That’s how good and dominant that he is.”
“It was a big deal that Izzy was able to come back. It was a big deal that he was able to go out and perform. It’s a big deal that while in the process of taking a fight-ending combination. I mean the guy started with his leg, he goes to his kidney, he goes to his liver. He knees him in the head, and boom. Izzy throws back and puts him down. It really was a remarkable thing.”
“I thought Pereira fought an awesome fight,” said Sonnen. “Adesanya had a massive chance to show us, the audience, that he can deal with adversity and he can come back, that he is a guy that when he goes down he gets back up. That was awesome. That will only help to further the already incredible legacy of Israel Adesanya. No doubt about it.”
MMA Twitter reacts to Israel Adesanya’s insane KO of Alex Pereira