All eyes were on the middleweight division at UFC 234 on Saturday, and there were plenty of names in the weight class who had thoughts on Israel Adesanya post-fight.
Adesanya (16-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC) kept his undefeated streak alive when he defeated former longtime UFC champ Anderson Silva (38-9 MMA, 17-5 UFC) by unanimous decision at UFC 234, which took place at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia.
The win could potentially lock up a title shot at 185 pounds for Adesanya, but the future of the weight class remains a mystery with champ Robert Whittaker (20-4 MMA, 11-2 UFC) currently recovering from the abdominal surgery that caused him to withdraw from his scheduled title defense against Kelvin Gastelum (16-3 MMA, 10-3 UFC) just hours before UFC 234.
Although the odds indicated a blowout win for Adesanya, “The Spider” actually gave a competitive fight over three rounds. That failed to impressive several other fighters in the division, including another unbeaten contender in Paulo Costa (12-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC), who is slated to fight Yoel Romero (13-3 MMA, 9-2 UFC) at UFC on ESPN 3 in April, but has had much back-and-forth with Adesanya over the past year (via Twitter):
There was also Elias Theodorou (15-2 MMA, 7-2 UFC), who has won five of his past six fights in the division and felt Adesanya showed some new flaws in his game that could be taken advantage of (via Twitter):
One of Adesanya old foes, Marvin Vettori (12-4-1 MMA, 2-2-1 UFC), who narrowly lost to Adesanya by split decision at UFC on FOX 29 in April, chimed in, too (via Twitter):
And then of course there was former UFC middleweight champ Chris Weidman (14-4 MMA, 10-4 UFC), who stirred the pot with his opinion of Adesanya (via Twitter):
Finally, former title challenger Romero, chimed in with reminder that getting to the top of the weight class should go through him (via Twitter):
One person who was impressed by Adesanya was UFC President Dana White, who said watching the matchup with Silva was like a “Kung Fu movie.”
For complete coverage of UFC 234, check out the UFC Events section of the site.
