Demetrious Johnson Claims Israel Adesanya Can Beat His UFC Title Defense Record If He Makes Critical Change To His Style

If the rumor mill is to be believed, one potential main event for UFC 300 on April 13 would see former middleweight champion Israel Adesanya try to reclaim his throne.

After suffering a shock defeat to Sean Strickland at UFC 293, Adesanya announced that he would be taking a long period of time off. That has seemingly already come to an end, with "The Last Stylebender" returning to training in recent weeks amid talk of him facing current champion Dricus Du Plessis.

Despite his admiration for Adesanya, former UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson isn't a big fan of this matchup when looking at it from the former champ's point of view...

Johnson Says Adding Some Grappling Into Adesanya's Game Could Take Him To New Heights

During his appearance on The MMA Hour, Johnson said that he would be against this fight for the time being. That's because he questions whether Adesanya will have been able to make sizeable adjustments in his time off. 

"I don't like that fight for Izzy because I feel Izzy hasn't taken enough time and, I don't know, I'm not in his camp. My question would be to Izzy have you taken enough time to add more tools to your toolset?"

"Mighty Mouse" specifically called attention to Adesanya's favored style of counter striking, which worked very well for him throughout his five title defenses.

Johnson points out that where he tended to struggle more was when opponents wouldn't overextend or commit to their attacks - name dropping the likes of Yoel Romero & Sean Strickland - forcing Adesanya to lead the dance which sometimes led to dull fights.

The record holder for most consecutive title defenses said that working on his grappling would massively improve Adesanya, going as far as to say that with the right time invested in these skillsets, he could become the new record holder in the promotion. 

"If I could take that kickboxing of Izzy of going forward, the pressure fighter, and give him a nasty clinch and a beautiful double leg, he would be the middleweight champion and he would beat my 11 consecutive title defenses.

"His countering, his athletic ability, and his strengths of countering people are phenomenal, but if somebody doesn't overextend, is he comfortable enough to go in there and force the clinch, force the wrestling, force those things?"

Johnson stated once again that until Adesanya is confident that he has made those improvements, he isn't all that interested in seeing him go up against Du Plessis.

"I just don't like that matchup stylistically from my standpoint but I'm always going to root for Izzy because I'm a big fan of him. But as me, as a martial artist, I'm like, 'No, you need time to develop those things in your game that I see that you're missing.'"