Israel Adesanya on ‘surreal’ fight with Anderson Silva: I was able to outmaneuver him

Bloodyelbow.com

It has been almost one week after his fight with Anderson Silva, and Israel Adesanya has admitted he wants to keep watching his fight over and over again with the MMA legend.

Adesanya defeated Silva by unanimous decision in the main event of UFC 234 this past Saturday night to extend his unbeaten run. The win marked Adesanya’s fifth consecutive win in the UFC, whilst the loss for Silva was his fifth in his last seven fights.

Speaking on the most recent edition The MMA Hour, Adesanya said the fight with Silva was “huge” for him and explained he has taken something away from the fight after watching it a few times.

“I want to watch it again and again and again,” Adesanya said. “I’ll probably watch it more than the rest of my fights in the UFC after the fight. But yeah huge for me. I really just want to watch the fight. Every time I’ve watched it, I’ve watched the fight twice now, every time I’ve watched it I’ve taken something away from it. Myself, Silva and just the whole spectacle itself.”

“It’s still cool, still very cool. Still kind of surreal a little bit. Because I was watching it myself, there’s certain moments that just, for me they’re like special moments for me because they were sh*t that I kind of like, I already knew and I’ve seen before happen many times with other fighters, Silva’s opponents, and I never fell victim to.”

Adesanya went on to describe how the fight with Silva played out, attributing his footwork and timing to the success he had in the fight. The New Zealander continued by saying despite his age, Silva was still very fast in the octagon.

“He’s never fought a striker like me. He’s never fought a guy like me. Everyone else he’s fought just stands there and looks stupid.” Adesanya said. “So I was able to get my footwork right, I was able to get my timing right, I was able to outmaneuver him, able to be a step ahead, there were situations, there were certain strikes where literally just (makes noise like a strike just missing) but it was cool to see in real time they looked like they were hitting, but they were just whizzing past. And he was, he’s still, man he’s quick.”

The win over Silva has meant Adesanya has now cracked into the top five at 185-pounds, and he is hoping to fight for the middleweight title later this year.