4 hours Ago By [email protected] (James Evans)
Israel Adesanya is back in action this weekend, but ahead of his return to the cage, 'The Last Stylebender' was assigned a tricky question on the spot. The former two-time UFC middleweight champion will take on Nassourdine Imavov in a blockbuster main event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Adesanya is looking to get back to winning ways following back-to-back defeats to Sean Strickland and Dricus du Plessis.
Despite his current poor run of form, the Kiwi native is still regarded as one of the best fighters in the history of the sport. On that topic, the 35-year-old was quizzed to give his ‘Mount Rushmore’ of MMA. Despite being asked to give four names, Adesanya did one better and revealed a fifth name, He said: “Mount Rushmore, I'll give you, again, Demetrious [Johnson], Anderson Silva, Jon Jones, I'll say Conor [McGregor] because of the impact he had in the game, and I want to put GSP [Georges St-Pierre] up there as well just cause of the champion he was in and out of the Octagon.
But again, that can switch.” After picking up the flyweight title with a win over Joseph Benavidez back in 2012, Demetrious Johnson would go on to defend the title a whopping 11 times before suffering a defeat to Henry Cejudo back in 2018. Many are quick to overlook Johnson's accolades within the sport, but Adesanya was eager to praise the work of the 38-year-old.
Anderson Silva famously went toe-to-toe with Adesanya back in 2019. While the Brazilian was past his prime in that outing, prior to the clash with 'The Last Stylebender, he was arguably one of the most dominant fighters in the history of the sport. 'Spider' held the middleweight title between 2007 and 2012 before eventually losing the strap to Chris Weidman in 2013.
Jon Jones and Adesanya were rivals back in the day while the former was the light-heavyweight champion. However, they've since put aside their rivalry - with the middleweight star going on to place 'Bones' in his top five. McGregor's inclusion may not surprise many MMA fans seeing as the Irishman put the sport on the map.
Following a meteoric rise in the sport, 'The Notorious' eventually became the first simultaneous two-division champion in the history of the UFC following wins over Jose Aldo and Eddie Alvarez. Lastly, the 35-year-old was quick to sing Georges St-Pierre's praises. The former welterweight champion dominated the 170lb division for a long time before moving up and becoming a middleweight champion in 2017 after defeating Michael Bisping at UFC 217.
Most of the aforementioned names aren't a major shock, but Adesanya explained that the list tends to vary depending on his mood. When asked why he decided to omit Khabib Nurmagomedov, the Kiwi sensation replied: “He’s one of the greatest, of course.".
