I.A. lost the last 3 fights because he took too many risks with power-heavy shots instead…

You ever try pulling the right hand against Sean Strickland in 2023? Adesanya did it eight times in Sydney and landed zero clean counters. That’s not “tempo-setting legacy,” that’s a rhythm he couldn’t buy.

nah mate, Strickland wasn't some "legendary boxer" in 2022 💀 he got dropped TWICE by those "reckless" power shots when Israel was on that GOAT run! UFC 276? Right hand sends Sean to sleep after he tried to box with the GOAT of footwork. Then there's Du Plessis last year—Adesanya put 40% of his strikes with power that night while middleweight champ looked like a stunned mullet 😂 UFC 293? Strickland isn't some magic hands dude who read Adesanya's mind—he just stayed patient for ONE big shot that caught him clean. One right hand doesn't rewrite three fights where our guy was still landing harder and sharper than anyone! Man's still got the best head-hand in the game when he wants it—remember?

Christ on a bike, Reds nailed it and you’re both glossing over the sheer futility of that Sydney clinic. Two zero counters from eight attempts isn’t just “he couldn’t buy rhythm”—that’s eight times Israel reached for a counter he’d already proven dead against Strickland in 2023 and every round it was like watching a man tap dance into a haymaker. Eight attempts, zero landed; that’s not a rhythm, that’s a busted metronome. And remember, we’re not talking some club journeyman—we’re talking about Sean “I’m-mid-tier-with-a-right-hand-that-sleeps-folk” Strickland. If you can’t counter even when your opponent’s carrying the glove as his primary weapon, then the counter-strike theory flatlined mid-card.

ain’t it funny how the same hands that felled machida and whittaker in ‘22 suddenly turn “reckless” when three on the bounce go sideways back in 2019, everybody in the house agreed—ise’s counter timing was some voodoo, the way he’d let you load up then pick you off with a stiff left that landed like a crowbar. then 2022 hits and instead of just dancing he leaned on the power same way lethwei fighters treat the headkick: if it breaks you, perfect; if it don’t, you still got two working limbs left to step on my grave. that’s what made the strickland two-pack at 276 so maddening—you drop a one-dimensional brawler twice with clean right hands, next thing you’re seeing the same blueprint dragged out like it’s gospel because “tempo”. pfft. now all of a sudden we’re being told that same power shot is a liability because it only “worked” against welterweights and lighter middles. but du plessis in 185? the man’s chin’s got a cv longer than my lorry’s service log, and israel still rattled him three times with the cross before the stoppage. yet in sydney they’ll have you believe those right hands are painted targets painted by a novice instead of the same tool that printed twenty-five ko’s across his prime. makes you wonder who actually forgot the tape—us or the scorecards.

What’s more illuminating than Strickland’s eye-brow heckling during the stare-downs at UFC 276? That subtle smirk never left his face as Adesanya pulled the trigger on those laser-right hands mid-clinch — and then you watch the replay, frame by frame, and see Sean’s gloves literally shift an inch inside before the shot lands. Not a full loaded-up telegraph, just a half-step reset so sharp it’s like Adesanya’s arm was on a spring. That’s why the counters worked back in the day: Israel could fire a right hand in the rhythm of a metronome while the opponent was still calibrating their weight transfer. One stride forward, one stride back — and suddenly the supposedly untouchable counter-striker finds his head two inches closer to the fist that’s already hurt him once.

You ever notice how we all started noticing Strickland’s little feints the moment he got that stare-down smirk against Israel? I swear, every time I rewatch that UFC 276 clinch I can feel my own jaw clench when Sean’s gloves shift that half-inch — it’s like he’s playing a video game and Israel’s timing is on “easy mode.” But here’s the thing: even if that half-step reset was the difference-maker in Sydney, it doesn’t erase how many times those same power shots *did* break rhythm before Strickland figured out the reset. Remember Wellington back in 2022? The man just loaded up on that counter and you could see Marlon’s eyes go wide before the lights went out — no feints, no resets, just a clean right hand that landed like a freight train. That’s the Adesanya I bought the pay-per-view for, not the one we watched in Sydney trying to dance with a guy who couldn’t keep up.

Yeah but nah mate—Strickland wasn’t *just* sitting on his hands in Sydney, was he? The fella’s got a jab that’s longer than his soul and a right that’s faster than a Nottingham tram at rush hour. You ever watch the post-fight presser? Sean’s still got that grin like he’s just won the lottery while Israel’s sat there chewing his cheek like a man who just remembered he left the oven on. That wasn’t counter-striking breaking down—it was a 50-50 wrestler outboxing the GOAT on pure volume for three rounds straight. The tape doesn’t lie, and the tape says Strickland landed *twenty* more strikes in Sydney than Israel did, and half of them were in the pocket where Adesanya used to pick folks off like daisies 😂 And let’s not forget the Du Plessis debacle—the man’s chin’s made of granite and Israel still had to pull power shots to put him away. That’s not reckless, that’s evolutionary pressure! If you can’t adapt when the simpler weapons stop dropping men like flies, then you’re not a fighter, you’re a one-trick pony with a fading act.

mates listen up 👊 i can feel the anger rising just reading these rehashed takes again—like we’re watching the same fight in slow mo and somehow forgetting who put the hurt on Marlon & Robert with his hands before anyone even dared whisper about "feints" 🤡 Strickland’s so-called "reset" is just a shorter telegraph, nothing more! Ise didn’t drop two welterweights with "reckless" power shots outta nowhere—he beat legends who came to counter him, not some mid-tier clown dancing like he’s on TikTok! Two clean rights to Machida’s dome while the man was *loading* for a counter—that’s not luck, that’s mastery! And Whittaker? The guy who wrote the book on footwork? He got caught mid-stride by the SAME shot Israel’s been landing since his black trunks days! 🖤 So yeah Strickland’s grin was smug in Sydney, but that headhand still slaps harder than his entire body language—fact 💥 If power shots were a liability, why did Jon “Bones” keep calling him the most dangerous striker in 25-5? Nah nah nah, the real tape killers here are the ones spamming "just stick to counters" like it’s gospel while forgetting the counters only work when you *sell* the rhythm! Ise’s rhythm is poetry until you load up and forget the poem starts with a right hand! Still backing him all day, defo 🔥

man, now we’re really baking with the fan-fan—his pitch is basically “if Strickland had a reset, it’s invisible, and if Israel missed, he was trying to dance!” tell that to the judges in Wellington, 2022, when the freight-train right hand turned Marlon Whittaker’s skull into a wind-chime on the third minute. one shot, lights out. no second-act voodoo, just the same metronome beat we all fell in love with: one stride in, one stride back, then *boom*—counter lands before the opponent’s weight even leaves the floor. sixteen knockouts on that exact cadence; so if Strickland’s reset deserves all the credit for Sydney, why wasn’t it in Wellington? because then the rhythm was flawless, and the KO still happened. or did the tape just lie for four straight years? ah well, we’ll see

Can we all just pause for a second and watch that slow-motion of Israel’s right hand to Whittaker’s jaw at UFC 293—there’s literally a full half-beat where Marlon’s front foot hasn’t even lifted yet and that counter’s already halfway home? Strickland’s supposed reset? The man’s gloves twitch like they’re powered by a Swiss motor, but the rhythm was broken long before the glove moved—Israel didn’t suddenly forget how to wait for the load-up, he got caught in the same cadence he built his entire career on. It’s like watching a metronome snap and then blame the clock instead of the guy who set the tempo.

Remember Wellington 2022 like it was last month? I was watching that card in a room full of season-ticket holders, all of us screaming when that right hand landed on Whittaker’s jaw. The slow-mo showed Marlon’s front foot glued to the canvas while Israel’s punch was already two frames from impact—no reset, no sneaky glove twitch, just a metronome strike that never changes pitch no matter the opponent. The sheer arrogance of watching opponents still stuck in “counter-time” while Adesanya’s cadence stays locked in its own orbit—that’s the man I fell for. But here’s what keeps me up at nights: Sydney showed me something new. Strickland didn’t beat the rhythm; he disrupted it by making Adesanya *reset* mid-air on purpose. That half-step you guys keep dissecting? It’s not a shortcut; it’s a pressure valve Israel never needed because his timing used to reset itself automatically. When that valve opened for the first time in Sydney, the whole metronome stuttered—and suddenly the freight train right hand arrived a frame too late to do the old magic. So yes, Wellington proved he can still clock opponents with classical counter-striking; Sydney proved the second someone dares to recalibrate that clock, the whole house of cards trembles.

Right, here’s the scene we’re all watching again like it’s on loop: Strickland in Sydney walked into a man who used to *own* this kind of volume, right? The jab’s the only strike that doesn’t depend on rhythm—it’s the metronome itself. Sean landed 58 jabs in that fight; Israel landed 32. That gap tells you everything and nothing at once. The jab isn’t supposed to win rounds by itself—it’s the setup for the counter, the rhythm keeper, the cadence setter. But when the counter never comes because the opponent’s timing has been scrambled, the jab turns into the main event. Ise’s rhythm was bulletproof up to Wellington. You watch that right hand land on Whittaker—Marlon’s still rooted, Adesanya hasn’t even lifted his front foot yet, and boom. That cadence is 16-0 territory. Then Strickland steps in with that half-step reset. Not a flicker, not a telegraphed feint—just a *reset* of Israel’s own metronome. The freight train arrives, but the bridge is gone. So we’re back to the same fork: Do we miss the old cadence or do we welcome the new calculus? The tape in Wellington says one thing. The tape in Sydney says something else. Which version of Adesanya shows up next time—that’s what none of us can agree on yet.