When it was announced that Max Holloway would rematch Dustin Poirier for the interim lightweight belt, one could safely assume, regardless of the outcome, that Fight of the Night or even Fight of the Year would be a given.
And it still could be.
But there was the small matter of the co-main event in Atlanta, where Kelvin Gastelum and Israel Adesanya gave the State Farm Arena crowd a spectacle that they’ll carry with them forever; the type of performance that reminds the viewer why they love mixed martial arts.
“This was the hardest fight of my career. Bar none,” Adesanya confirmed through a criminally swollen lip. “He’s kinda forced me to take some time off.”
Few would argue that time off would be a bad thing for Adesanya. In a dizzying 14 months, The Last Stylebender has rattled off 6 consecutive wins, and remains undefeated as a professional. But Saturday night was the first time the Nigerian New Zealander looked to be in legitimate danger, cheating peril as he continually beat back a relentless Gastelum, who marched back time and time again from strikes that would have ended nearly any other fighter. In fact, Adesanya notched the third highest knockdowns in UFC history, only to look up and see Gastelum resurrected yet again.
The sold out crowd of Americans on their feet and chanting „A-des-an-ya“ gave a tantalizing preview of the energy that will accompany the anticipated title unification bout between Adesanya and current middleweight champ Robert Whittaker. If it transpires in Australia, Adesanya cooly predicts it will be the largest sporting event Down Under has ever witnessed. He may be right.
