"He fighting Djokovic?" - Fans troll Israel Adesanya for practicing movement with tennis balls ahead of Alex Periera fight

Israel Adesanya (Left), Novak Djokovic (Middle), Alex Pereira (Right) [Image courtesy: @espnmma on Twitter, Getty, @alexpoatanpereira on Instagram]
Israel Adesanya (Left), Novak Djokovic (Middle), Alex Pereira (Right) [Image courtesy: @espnmma on Twitter, Getty, @alexpoatanpereira on Instagram]

Fans have recently been treated to a video of Israel Adesanya performing movement drills with a tennis ball. However, the UFC middleweight champion failed to impress fans with his new training video.

Watch the clip below:

Adesanya was mercilessly trolled for practicing with a tennis ball ahead of his upcoming title defense against Alex Pereira. A fan hilariously asked if 'The Last Stylebender' was preparing for a fight against tennis icon Novak Djokovic. @SouthgateDon wrote:

"He fighting Djokovic?"

@mma_squared wrote:

"Poatan realizing his gameplan to throw tennis balls at Izzy’s head is doomed"

The post by ESPN MMA claimed that Adesanya's preparations for UFC 281 is different. Several fans noted that Anderson Silva had mastered the head movement drill with tennis balls back in 2009. @Ebab117 wrote:

"Anderson Silva did this well over a decade ago"

Watch Silva doing the drill below:

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Fans also took a dig at Adesanya's fighting style and accused him of training to "point fight." Twitter user @pr98712 wrote:

"All that just to point fight & bomb calf kicks from distance for 25 minutes & get a decision victory"

Jake Paul plans to copy Israel Adesanya's tactics in fight against Anderson Silva

Israel Adesanya emphatically outpointed his role model Anderson Silva at UFC 234 in 2019. During the bout, 'The Last Stylebender' used some of Silva's own techniques, instigating 'The Spider' to engage while shrugging off his shots.

Jake Paul is now scheduled to fight Silva in a boxing match on September 29 at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona. If the Brazilian starts taunting him during the fight, Paul plans to respond in a similar fashio as Israel Adesanya.

'The Problem Child' believes that Silva will get derailed if his taunts are answered back. However, Paul does not intend on slackening his guard by engaging in a taunting game with the former UFC middleweight kingpin. The 25-year-old recently told ESPN:

"I'll give it right back to him, just like Israel did...He's not going to know what to do. I don't think he expects that from me, but I'm just as comfortable in there as him especially in the boxing ring. So if he's doing all this s*** [throwing up his arms] I'm not going to do that. I will fight my fight on my terms and I'm going to be in control for all eight rounds, until I get the knockout."

Watch Paul's interview with ESPN below:

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