Israel Adesanya as a goalkeeper? At the UFC, Saudi Arabia, writing on the wall becomes more readable – in one way or another

It is hard to believe that seven years have come and have disappeared since Israel Adesanya beat Rob Wilkinson at UFC 221 in Perth. The fact is that Izzy started her UFC trip late. He was 28 years old when he traveled a leg in this start, a gesture intended to mark the cage as a traveling dog to announce his arrival. I still remember Ariel Helwani of the non-Couronne telling the story that the first time he sent a text to Adesanya to ask him to come to his show, the Izzy answer gave back: “I was waiting for you.”

Of course, Adesanya won this first fight and eight others on an increasing scale to emerge as one of the biggest average weights of all time. He won this distinction, in part, by beat The consensual goat Anderson Silva, in what was a silent transfer of generational and mojo atmosphere.

And in part by eliminating stronger his rival Robert Whittaker. By surviving Kelvin Gastelum, in a fight, he said – and showed – he was ready to die. By stacking names like Yoel Romero, Paulo Costa and Jared Cannonier. By dragging a ghost of his past, Alex Pereira, in the mixture for the sole purpose of destroying his heritage. RAW, ribbed and a lean muscle blade, without modification. If your instinct retrospectively is to say that one of these guys was “washed”, remember, it was Adesanya who washed them.

We are talking about “meteoric” in the MMA, but no meteor has ever invited so much deadly atmosphere to try to separate it while it was taking place in a medium goat goat conversation. What he did was never durable. When Adesanya intervenes to face Nassourdine Imavov in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, it will be for the 18th time in less than seven years. This is 2.6 fights per year, which might not seem much until you are making a dozen of these enlarged title fights. With five title defenses and a foray in search of history to light heavy goods vehicles to see the double crowns. With media obligations and global visits stacked between the two, and almost a year of leave between its losses against Sean Strickland and Dricus du Plessis.

Adesanya has been running in the red since his start. Once, when Adesanya was in New York for a fight, I asked him if he was aware of having what the CEO of the UFC, Dana White, likes to call the “IT” factor.

“Yes, that’s something you know“He said. “You know when you have that. Many guys are just safe. Many guys just can’t manage the spotlight and pressure, so they get away from it, like: “Oh, I don’t want to be there.” It’s never me.

“I knew what was going on and I knew how they looked at me. It was not them, it was about me. I had “that”. I planned it, and it’s just another day in the office now. It’s regular. All the people I saw, Ronda (Rousey), Conor (McGregor), Jon Jones, Anderson Silva, Chael Sonnen, they do this kind of sh * t for years, and I have always put myself in this position. »»

Two days later, he eliminated Derek Brunson at Madison Square Garden. “It is”. “It” was not almost finished either.

Saturday’s fight is too calm. He feels by harmony with Izzy’s past ceremonies, strange in his pedestrian approach. Respect is so mutual to become shocking. Null tension. No stretched neck muscles. No dark howls of waiting wars. Imavov has no charisma like Adesanya, and nothing about him is shouting star, but what he has is a line of Dagestan, heavy hands and a cold and not very romantic resolution. He wants to take everything from Adesanya and use it as a springboard, which is the name of the game. Adesanya did it to Silva. There is always someone who has just rolled credits on your career, and in this case, it is a Frenchman with a lot of Caspian sea salt in his blood.

The existence of the AS test. Is existence as a guard? Is existence also relaunched?

Nothing completely because we are not yet sure, and we have never been entirely with Izzy. He is 35 years old and crossed many wars in the kickboxing and boxing rings, even before he arrived at MMA. He didn’t exactly wear an angel on his shoulder either. We have seen the demons of Izzy, which he keeps nearby as necessary companions through this MMA trip.

We remember the driving incident in a state of drunkenness, which obscured the loss of its title against Strickland. The moment he skipped for carrying brass joints to JFK. The moment he said he had raped Kevin Holland, and the moment when he inexplicably tweeted a photo of Adolph Hitler dancing, in comparison with the way he would come out for his fight with Plessis. Fighting plums of depths in a mysterious way, and no one has articulated it more readily than Zzzy.

Through all this, he always told the truth in the fighting. His truth.

If Saturday is the place where writing on the wall becomes more readable than Adesanya’s career ends, it will not change what has already been documented. Its race is already part of the firmament of the MMA tradition. Today’s largest star in the UFC, Alex Pereira, told without crown that he was not there if it was not for Adesanya. “Bobby Knuckles” was already on the stage, but the scene did not become the scene Until the arrival of Adesanya. It was at this moment that the circus made him a dangerous attraction to tame. Adesanya, “The Last Stylebender”, gave meaning to the war mentality.

And he has done everything in less than seven years, which – with 18 fights, five title defenses and several major rivalries – reminds me of this famous poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay.

“My candles burn at both ends, it will not last at night – but ah, my enemies and oh, my friends, it gives a beautiful light.”