Israel Adesanya has made it clear he wants UFC gold, and he’s quickly proving he deserves that chance.
Adesanya (16-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC) has stormed the UFC’s middleweight division since joining the promotion just one year ago, racking up five consecutive wins, including a recent UFC 234 decision over former champ Anderson Silva (34-9 MMA, 17-5 UFC). With that latest victory, “The Last Stylebender” has stormed his way up to No. 4 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA middleweight rankings.
Of course, champ Robert Whittaker (20-4 MMA, 11-2 UFC) was forced out of UFC 234 at the last minute after being forced into emergency surgery, and challenger Kelvin Gastelum (15-3 MMA, 10-3 UFC) had his shot at the belt slip away. As such, both men stayed put in the rankings. What happens next remains to be seen.
After this past week’s UFC 234 event, take a look at the updated middleweight list, as well as preview the entire rankings ahead of a busy weekend of MMA featuring a pair of Bellator events in addition to the UFC’s first main card on ESPN.
