UFC 243: A look at Israel Adesanya's rise to the top

#3 Taking apart Brunson – UFC 230

Adesanya's knockout of Derek Brunson was reminiscent of Anderson Silva's dissection of Chris Leben

Despite picking Brad Tavares apart in July 2018, some eyebrows were raised when Israel Adesanya was matched with Derek Brunson at UFC 230 in just his fourth Octagon appearance. Tavares had sounded like a tough opponent but realistically, the Hawaiian was more of a gatekeeper; a tough veteran but not a title contender, and also a man hardly renowned for his finishing ability.

Brunson, on the other hand, was a different animal entirely. Sure, he’d been knocked out by ‘Jacare’ Souza in his previous fight, but he was still a title contender firmly entrenched in the top ten at 185 lbs, and more to the point, six of his nine UFC victories had come by knockout.

Brunson was a dangerous, heavy-handed finisher and for a man with just 3 UFC appearances to his name, he sounded like a very dangerous opponent.

Indeed, the fight ended in a vicious knockout – but not on the behalf of Brunson. Instead, Adesanya stunned everyone by taking the veteran out in just under a round, in a performance reminiscent of Anderson Silva’s legendary UFC debut knockout of Chris Leben over a decade prior.

Essentially, everything Adesanya threw appeared to land cleanly on Brunson, who seemed panicked from the moment ‘The Last Stylebender’ stuffed an early takedown attempt. He just couldn’t get into range, while Adesanya sniped at him from distance with surgical precision. Brunson was put down twice in the fight, and ate knees, head kicks and punches before the referee mercifully stopped things.

This was a jaw-dropping performance that raised Adesanya straight from the realm of prospect to bonafide title contender – and all in just his 4th UFC fight, too.