In UFC history, Israel Adesanya and Kamaru Usman are two of the best fighters. In addition, they are close friends.
The previous middleweight champion of the UFC is Adesanya. Usman is a former welterweight champion. Both Adesanya and Usman were born in Nigeria and became close during their time as UFC champions, despite the fact that Adesanya now resides in New Zealand and Usman in the United States.
Even though neither guy is currently a UFC champion, they are still good friends and recently sparred when Adesanya paid Usman a visit at his South Florida gym.
You can see tons of footage between the two UFC legends below, as posted by Adesanya on YouTube.
Former kickboxing sensation Israel Adesanya won the interim title by decision over Kelvin Gastelum in 2019, earning him his first taste of UFC gold. He won the undisputed title after knocking out Robert Whittaker in his subsequent bout. He then defeated elite opponents to defend the title an incredible six times. In the end, Alex Pereira defeated him for the title.
In a rematch with Pereira, Adesanya regained the title, but Sean Strickland defeated him via decision. In his last two bouts, he was defeated by Nassourdine Imavov and Dricus Du Plessis.
In the same year that Adesanya won middleweight gold, Usman won the welterweight crown. He defeated Tyron Woodley via decision to win the title. At five, Usman had one fewer title defense than Adesanya. In 2022, he ultimately lost the title to Leon Edwards. After losing a rematch against Edwards, he lost to Khamzat Chimaev in a short-notice middleweight bout, his third straight defeat. He hasn’t engaged in combat since that time in 2023.
After Anderson Silva, Adesanya is regarded as the second-best middleweight in MMA history. Similar to Silva, Usman is regarded as the second-best welterweight of all time, after Georges St-Pierre, Silva’s contemporaries.
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