The middleweight title fight between Israel Adesanya and Jared Cannonier is getting closer as UFC 276 is almost upon us. Recently, the champion sent a brutal warning to the challenger ahead of the fight.

Israel Adesanya compared the upcoming fight with Jared Cannonier to the infamous bout between Forrest Griffin and Anderson Silva back in 2009. The Brazilian won a dominant fight that went down as one of the most legendary performances in UFC history.

“This is going to be spectacular,” Adesanya said on his YouTube channel. “Think UFC 101, Anderson Silva vs. Forrest Griffin. Like, I’m just going to be in the zone. I don’t care – stay tuned.”

Forrest Griffin spoke about the fight afterward and admits it was like fighting his ‘dad,' because of how dominant Anderson Silva was. The American did an interview back in 2010 explaining how tough the fight was.

“Every fight I go into, no matter what happens, it couldn’t be worse than Anderson Silva. That shit was a year ago [this interview was recorded in 2010] and literally everyday people ask me something about that. (TheMacLife)

“He punched you in the chin,” the interviewer comments. “Repeatedly,” then UFC fighter Griffin shoots back. “And I was very confused. I tried to punch him and he literally moved his head out of the way and looked at me like I was stupid for doing it. He looked at me like, ‘Why would you do such a stupid thing? Did you really think you were going to hit me? What a stupid thing to think.'”

“I felt embarrassed for even trying to punch him. I felt like some kid trying to wrestle with his dad,” the former UFC champion said.