UFC champion Israel Adesanya's competitiveness inside the octagon starts before a fight even gets underway.
At the start of every fight, middleweight king Adesanya usually puts his hand on top of his opponent's fist instead of touching gloves. 'The Last Stylebender' said this is a strategic way to not give his opponent any indication of his range before the fight starts.
"I don't touch gloves, when the fight starts I don't touch gloves," Adesanya said on 'Hotboxin' with Mike Tyson. "That's the first point of contact, you establish the range right away. I don't want to touch gloves, I'll establish the range my own way, I don't want to give them an inch at all.
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Adesanya defended his title at UFC 271 in February by outpointing former champion Robert Whittaker in their rematch. The build-up to the rematch was very different to their first fight, with Whittaker admitting he acted "out of character" by trying to rile Adesanya up before the title bout.
"The first time he fought me, he was a little s***," Adesanya continued. He was c***y, he was throwing shade at me. This time he couldn't say s*** because I knocked him out the first time. Even he said, 'yeah, he's got bragging rights'.
"This training camp I had an epiphany, there's no good or bad people. People are capable of great good or great evil. Especially before this last fight, I felt like I was the heel and I was supposed to be in that role because Rob is the 'good guy'."
Adesanya recalled the moment that Whittaker tried to touch his glove when he entered the octagon at UFC 271 before the fight started. The champion was irritated by Whittaker trying to offer his respect given he was disrespectful in the lead up to their first meeting.
"I get in the octagon and circle around it, I was going to touch [gloves] and then he put his hand out, like he submitted to me. I remember just smacking his hand, I dapped him up aggressively. He came at me with that energy because he didn't want to poke the bear," Adesanya added.
After making the fourth defence of his middleweight title against Whittaker in their rematch, Adesanya is expected to face No.2 ranked contender Jared Cannonier next. 'The Killa Gorilla' also fought on the UFC 271 card, knocking out fellow top contender Derek Brunson.
