Michael Bisping believes that Jan Blachowicz set out the blueprint for defeating Israel Adesanya at UFC 259 and that Marvin Vettori would be wise to follow suit when he fights Adesanya for the middleweight title on June 12.
Bisping believes that one of Vettori’s key strategies for a win is to use takedowns — but not just any takedowns.
The Count would rather see ‘The Italian Dream’ attempt to take Adesanya down in the middle of the Octagon rather than dragging him down towards the fence, where ‘The Last Stylebender’ will try to take advantage of the cage.
“For Adesanya, he should go into this fight very confident,” Bisping said (h/t Abhinav Kini of MiddleEasy.com). “Of course, he’s already beaten Marvin Vettori. Both of them have got better, I think Vettori has got way better. I think for Marvin Vettori, seeing the way Blachowicz beat him has set the tone for how to beat him.
“I think the way to beat Adesanya obviously takes him down, but most people take him down against the fence. It’s easier [to defend] because you can lean against the wall or the fence and if you get taken down, you can use that to stand back up. What we saw against Blachowicz was Blachowicz took him down in the middle of the Octagon. The more beneficial reason is you got to be a better wrestler to penetrate and drive through and put them down. To take someone down in the middle is harder but you’ll have more success against Israel is because they haven’t got the fence to lean on — they’re just going to fall over. And then when you get him down, it’s way harder to get back to your feet if you’re in the middle of the Octagon because you’ve got nothing to lean on.”
Bisping, on the other hand, feels Adesanya will win and that the champion will be ready for Vettori’s wrestling-oriented game plan in two weeks.
“I think Vettori saw that and I think he’ll come with a heavy wrestling-oriented game plan as he did against Kevin Holland, but you still got to side with the champ. I’m still learning with the champ. He’s the champ for a reason,” Bisping said.
Next month, on June 12, UFC 263: Adesanya vs. Vettori 2 will take place at the Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona.
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