Israel Adesanya Planning Eventual Submission Win, Hopes Opponents Shoot For Takedowns

Mandatory Credit: Josh Hedges - Zuffa LLC

During his brief yet hugely successful UFC stint, undisputed middleweight titleholder, Israel 'The Last Stylebender' Adesanya has found himself on the bottom via a takedown on seven separate occasions. As far as the City Kickboxing ace is concerned, however, it seems to be a case of keep em' comin' -- with the masterful striker noting his plans to score an eventual submission win as a result of a successful shot.

Adesanya, who has been unmatched in his professional career in mixed martial arts with an astonishing 20-0 record knocked back the consensus most dangerous challenger to his 185-pound throne on 'Fight Island' in September, making relatively easy work of the then-unbested, Paulo 'The Eraser' Costa with a flawless second-round knockout win. 

Laying waste to the Brazilian, Adesanya scored his second successful title defence of the year, following a forgettable and often criticised unanimous judging performance against Olympic silver medalist in freestyle wrestling, the recently released Yoel Romero in March at UFC 248.

While Romero as more often than not in recent outings abandoned his wrestling chaps, Adesanya has welcomed the possibility of clashing with a wrestling heavy approach from an opponent in the future -- with plans to score what would be his first-ever submission success in professional mixed martial arts. 

"I hope they start shooting on me more cause I want to choke somebody out," Adesanya said in a recent interview with MMA Fighting. "I mean people were shooting on me at the beginning of my UFC career, and then they realised, 'We can't be doing that, fu*k it let's strike, oh we can't do that [either]."

"They should go back to shooting on me again, cause I've got some tricks that I want to use," Adesanya explained.

While his floated light heavyweight title challenge opposite incumbent 205-pound best, Jan Blachowicz has yet to be pinned down by the promotion, UFC president Dana White confirmed that Adesanya's next fight would be against the Pole, however, that claim came prior to perennial contender, Glover Teixeira's number-one contender earning submission win over Thiago Santos. 

Adesanya was most notably taken down by Rob Wilkinson, Marvin Vettori, and Kelvin Gastelum, the most recent the last such occasion he was successfully shot upon, and if he ends up in any possible grappling exchanges opposite Blachowicz, he's tasked with a wily Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt who himself has nabbed an often overlooked nine separate submission wins.