Israel Adesanya offered his take on the Ian Garry drama and offers his prediction for the UFC 296 headliner.
Israel Adesanya weighed in on all the recent controversy surrounding rising Irish star Ian Garry.
‘The Future’ has faced a fair amount of backlash in recent months, much of it surrounding his personal life outside of the Octagon. Speaking about all the drama being directed toward Garry on his YouTube channel, ‘The Last Stylebender’ had nothing, but positive things to say about his brief interactions with the Irishman.
“I don’t speak on it because it’s not my business, but I’ve trained with Ian a little bit,” Adesanya said. “I’ve seen him at the P.I. a couple of times and he’s a nice guy. He’s young. He’s finding his foot in the game. He’s got a lot of hype on him, deservedly so. He’s great at fighting. If you know, you know. When you’re in a position when you’re on a pedestal like that and then you have people trying to tear you down because you’re just sure of yourself. They’re trying to find anything.”
He continued, “It’s not easy being in his position, and I’ve been there because I’m there. I’m in the spotlight. People just throw sh*t and hope something sticks.”
Adesanaya also revealed that he has reached out to Garry, sending the Irishman a message of support.
“I like Ian. I think there’s good in the kid. He’s just finding his way. He’s new in this. He’s rising so fast and I’ve been on that ride when it’s like, ‘Whoa, what the f*ck?!’ I made mistakes as well. Everyone makes mistakes. It’s just a learning curve.”
Garry was originally scheduled to fight Vicente Luque at UFC 296 on Saturday night (December 16), but he was forced to withdraw due to a bad bout of pneumonia. The promotion is yet to announce if they will reschedule the matchup for a future UFC card.
Israel Adesanya Condemns Colby Covington’s Horrendous Comment About Leon Edwards’ Father
Switching gears, Israel Adesanya offered his take on the highly anticipated UFC 296 headliner between reigning and defending welterweight world champion Leon Edwards and perennial contender Colby Covington.
Appearing at Thursday’s press event, Colby Covington drew the ire of fighters and fans after he made an especially vile comment about Leon Edwards’ deceased father. Adesanya recognizes that Colby Covington’s bread and butter is promoting a fight with his mouth, but the former two-time titleholder believes that ‘Chaos’ took things entirely too far this time.
“I think he just knows how to sell a fight,” Adesanya said. “He knows how to get people’s emotions going and rile them up, but speaking of selling a fight, what [Colby Covington] did today, f*ck no. Don’t ever. That is not cool. I don’t care who you are. I think that was a low one, man. Do whatever you have to do to sell the fight, but I didn’t like that, man. I just saw Leon throw a water bottle at him. I’m not gonna repeat what he said.”
As for his prediction, the ‘Stylebender’ believes Leon Edwards will handle business in Las Vegas and walk out of T-Mobile Arena with his welterweight title intact.
“Leon’s gonna handle him,” Adesanya added. “I think Kamaru’s a better wrestler than Colby Covington. He’s a lot stronger as well and better striking. Colby’s very good with pressure and a great gas tank as well. He can outwork people, but I think Leon’s just gonna knock him out. I don’t think early. I think he’s gonna knock him out in maybe the third round.
“Leon knows how to control his emotions, but Leon is not a guy to be f*cked with. We’ve hung out with Leon. He’s the nicest, friendliest guy. The chillest, but when he’s locked in, he’s locked in. His target is on Colby Covington right now and I want him to just dead this guy for what he said.”
Watch the full video below: