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Israel Adesanya recently opened up about the time he butt heads with Petr Yan on the training mats of Tiger Muay Thai in Phuket, Thailand.
In a video uploaded to his YouTube channel, 'The Last Stylebender' revealed that he knew Petr Yan was a champion in the making right at that moment. He waxed lyrical about Yan's striking and overall fighting style.
"I used to watch Petr spar and used to be like, 'Man, he's merking everyone. He's literally just f***ing everyone up.' And I was like, 'Man, who is this guy? I like his style.' He was real playful and agile. After sparring I asked him, 'Yo, can we play?' I just wanted to feel him. I just wanted to see what he's about. I tell you, yeah, he was legit. I knew he was going to be a world champion from there," said Israel Adesanya.
Catch Israel Adesanya's breakdown of UFC 267 below:
Petr Yan put on an absolute striking masterclass in his UFC 267 outing against Cory Sandhagen to walk away with the interim UFC bantamweight title. While Sandhagen put up a great fight, it was Yan who did enough to be hailed as the victor by way of unanimous decision.
The MMA world was shocked when Petr Yan lost his undisputed title to Aljamain Sterling via DQ at UFC 259. The highly-anticipated rematch fell through after Sterling revealed he was still recovering from his neck surgery. The two are now set to collide in a bid to unify the belts, perhaps sometime in early 2022.
Apart from Petr Yan and Israel Adesanya, multiple UFC fighters have regularly visited Tiger Muay Thai
Tiger Muay Thai has played home to a myriad of globally renowned fighters, including Alexander Volkanovski, Valentina Shevchenko, and more. It also housed New Zealand compatriots Israel Adesanya and Dan Hooker. The two fighters were seen sparring with each other on multiple occasions.
Here's one instance posted on Tiger Muay Thai's official YouTube channel:
Ahead of Dan Hooker's fight against Islam Makhachev, Israel Adesanya tipped his compatriot to emerge triumphant. However, it seems like his prediction fell through.
Dan Hooker fell to Khabib Nurmagomedov's protege via first-round submission (kimura). The win has catapulted Makhachev into potential title contention, an opportunity the 30-year-old has patiently waited for.
