UFC news: Michael Bisping gets brutally honest on Israel Adesanya

Michael Bisping got brutally honest as he talked about Israel Adesanya's wrestling ahead of his title fight at UFC 271.

Israel Adesanya has the reputation of strictly being a kickboxer due to his background in the sport. The UFC middleweight champion has an excellent standup game and prefers to keep things off the ground. Michael Bisping recently gave his take on the champion's wrestling game.

Jan Balchowicz beat Israel Adesanya using his wrestling at UFC 259. Robert Whittaker recently came out and said that wrestling would be a key component to their fight when they meet in February.

“We know Robert said recently when he saw the fight with Jan Blachowicz, that laid out the blueprint on how to beat Israel. Well that’s not really a big revelation is it? We all know he’s a kickboxer, take him down. But it’s been harder to take him down than what people think,” said former UFC champion Michael Bisping on Submission Radio. … “Another thing that Jan Blachowicz did was take him down in the center of the Octagon. MMA fighters spend a tremendous amount of time against a padded wall, or against the cage, just drilling takedown defense against the fence. When it’s against the fence it’s easier because if someone tries to take you down you can lean on that fence.

“And if you do get taken down it’s easier to get up by the fence because, again, you can lean on it. If someone pushes you forward they’re pushing you into the fence. Out in the open, there’s nothing to help you. So if you’re trying to stay on your feet, there’s no fence to lean on so you’ll fall down. If you try to get back on your feet, the person just has to drive forward and you go back down. So I think that [fight] did reveal some things for Robert,” he added.

“We know Robert’s a great wrestler,” the former UFC fighter continued. “I think the Whittaker we saw against Kelvin Gastelum; I was blown away. That was a master class. I’m not saying he’s gonna win this fight, but I think I know for a fact that this fight is gonna be remarkably different from the first.”

Robert Whittaker challenges Israel Adesanya for the middleweight championship at UFC 271 in February. The fight is a rematch of their original meeting from October 2019.