35-year-old Israel Adesanya’s big struggles due to decline in speed, per MMA analyst
MMA coach and analyst Sayif Saud believes that a decline in speed may be contributing to Israel Adesanya‘s struggles as of late.
As we know, Israel Adesanya is one of the greatest middleweights of all time. Unfortunately, he’s also currently riding streak of losses that has seen him lose four of his last five.
Many have wondered whether or not there’s a route back to the top for him. Either way, Israel Adesanya’s legacy is intact – and at this point, it’s about whether or not the 35-year-old is even interested in trying to rebuild and climb the ladder again.
During a recent interview, the aforementioned Sayif Saud weighed in on what could be going wrong.
Israel Adesanya’s speed issue
“I look at that fight and just think about how incredible Izzy has been and what he’s done,” Saud told MMA Junkie. “I see everybody and they’re like sad. It’s kind like mourning this great fighter. But this happens to every single fighter after a certain point, because they fight at the very elite level.
“The thing about these champions is once they get to that level, everybody you fight is on the way up and is the very best of the new breed or the new generation or whatever. Nassourdine is a good example of that. He’s five or six or seven years younger than Izzy, in his prime and hungry. It’s constantly like being at the very tip of the sphere against the most amount of danger, and how long can you do that for?
“At 35 years old, if you’re just a hair slower, just a hair, just like Roy Jones Jr. The guy was all reflexes. He would hit people and come back and they couldn’t even touch him. He got just a hair slower and that was the difference. So I think that’s what we’re seeing with Izzy. I still think he looked really, really good in the fight. I think he can beat tons of people. I think he can beat Nassourdine in a fight. But with the style that he has and the way that he strikes, in that division with the young guys coming up (it’s tough).”
Quotes via MMA Junkie
