UFC 248: Can Israel Adesanya Go Down As Greatest Of All-Time?

In this day and age of instant results, Israel Adesanya could be primed for a big future.

Adesanya, the reigning UFC middleweight champion, defends his title against Yoel Romero this Saturday night at UFC 248.

The event will give him another chance to be the face of the card, which takes place from the T-Mobile Arena just outside Las Vegas.

Adesanya has kept his name in the headlines since his title-winning performance over Robert Whittaker last October thanks to a feud with reigning UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones.

At the moment, many believe Jones will go down as the greatest fighter of all-time. However, Adesanya has a couple things going for him in hopes of knocking “Bones” from that claim.

First, he’s still unbeaten in his career. Yes, the loss suffered by Jones was via disqualification, but he’s also dealt with plenty of issues outside of the Octagon.

Run-ins with the law, failed drug tests and more have hindered Jones’ public image and could keep people from ever placing him ahead of some of the other greats.

Adesanya, for the most part, has kept his image clean. Just like his record, which includes wins over Whittaker, Kelvin Gastelum, Anderson Silva and Derek Brunson.

Eighteen times he has stepped inside the cage to compete, and 18 times he has been declared the winner. The 30-year-old also has an incredible 75-5 record in kickboxing matches, most of which took place prior to his rise in the UFC.

Oh, and he also won five of six boxing matches including his last five in 2015.

The Nigerian-born, New Zealand bred Adesanya will need to continue pecking off middleweight challengers just like Jones did during his climb up the ladder. And if he can eventually get him to sign on the dotted line, a win over Jones would cement “The Last Stylebender” as the greatest of all-time.

UFC 248 Fight Card

UFC Middleweight Championship
Israel Adesanya (c) vs. Yoel Romero

UFC Strawweight Championship
Weili Zhang (c) vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk

Lightweight: Beneil Dariush vs. Drakkar Klose

Welterweight: Neil Magny vs. Li Jingliang

Welterweight: Alex Oliveira vs. Max Griffin

Bantamweight: Sean O’Malley vs. Jose Alberto Quinonez

Lightweight: Mark Madsen vs. Austin Hubbard

Middleweight: Rodolfo Vieira vs. Saparbek Safarov

Middleweight: Gerald Meerschaert vs. Deron Winn

Strawweight: Emily Whitmire vs. Polyana Viana

Bantamweight: Danaa Batgerel vs. Guido Cannetti

Featherweight: Jamall Emmers vs. Giga Chikadze