Don’t Expect to See Israel Adesanya Throwing Hands in Boxing Crossover

Talk about UFC stars facing boxing’s best has never really gone away, but more recently, there’s been a renewed spike regarding crossover match-ups. But, despite the fact Israel Adesanya is one of the greatest strikers in MMA, and although he had a decorated kickboxing career, he says he won’t be taking any boxing matches. Yes, no matter how much money they can deliver…

Renewed talk about crossover bouts

If you’ve followed MMA for years, then you know discussion and debates about MMA fighters taking on boxing stars is nothing new. We’ve seen boxing champs like James Tony take MMA fights  – he lost to Randy Couture back in 2010, and we’ve seen MMA stars like Conor McGregor face boxing champs like Floyd Mayweather Jr. – the latter won their 2017 boxing match via 10th TKO.

More recently, Stipe Miocic has let heavyweight boxing champ Tyson Fury he’s more than willing to face the latter in the boxing ring. Jorge Masvidal recently relayed that he wants to face boxing superstar Canelo Alvarez

Adesanya punts talk of him competing in boxing

Well, since Adesanya is widely regarded to be one of the most dynamic and dangerous strikers in MMA, you would think there would be interested in seeing him throw hands with a boxing champ / star. While appearing on the “Ebro in The Morning Show”, however, the Last Stylebender” said this (quotes via The MacLife.com):

“This [UFC] is where I’m going to end my career,” Adesanya said. “People say, ‘oh, after UFC, you can go to boxing and have one super fight maybe with Canelo and make a hundred million’. I’m like, I can do that in the UFC. I might be the first fighter to do that in the UFC.”

“It’s silly. Why would I come to the proving ground of all fighting — the UFC — and then afterward, fight a guy and take away like 80 percent of my weapons,” Adesanya said. “I just want to kick people. I want to strangle someone. I can’t do that in boxing. I don’t want to get into the clinch and then okay, break.

“Same thing with kickboxing, same thing with jiu-jitsu, same thing with judo, same thing with wrestling, they’re all limited styles of fighting. If you want to be the baddest motherf-cker in the world. Pound-for-pound –everyone throws that greatest fighter, pound-for-pound is Canelo [Alvarez]. He’s the pound-for-pound maybe greatest boxer right now. Not fighter. You have to test yourself against another style.”

There you have it and really, these comments should be too surprising. Adesanya has said a big reason he moved into MMA from kickboxing was because he wanted to test himself as a fighter, completely. Further, this is the same man who recently has been calling for a bout with Yoel Romero, as he wants to silence any remaining doubts about his ability to defeat a powerful wrestler.