Zane absolutely blanks Adesanya in the clinch—who else wants to admit it’s real?

Zane landing every scrap clean above Adesanya’s knees while the champ’s flat-footed doesn’t sound like clinch mastery — it sounds like two contrasting styles, not a clinic on Shane’s behalf. Izi slips and stumbles in the arms of anyone stronger for three rounds straight, I’m convinced, but that’s stamina, not clinch suppression. Show me a high-rep sequence where Zane turns the cage fabric into his personal playground and Izi ends up on his arse because of clean chain wrestling, not because the champ’s spent.

Zane’s clinch work?! Mate, what a result 🔥 Izi’s been out there looping thin jabs in the pocket while Shane’s just outclassing him in the chain every step of the way! You saw how the ref had to step in half a dozen times just to reset ‘em—Zane was carrying that whole round like it was a Sunday stroll in Small Heath 😤 Nah nah nah, this ain’t no fluke, this is WRESTLING on display! Izi’s spent all campaign dreaming up angles but Shane’s just flat puttin’ his weight on the champ and walking him backwards—what planet are we on where that’s *not* dominance?! Three rounds of Shane dictatin’ the pace while Izi’s still tryin’ to figure out which way’s up 💀 Absolute clinic from the man!

Hold on—are we really debating whether Zane's wrestling was dominant when the ref had to pull them apart half a dozen times in a single round? That wasn’t Izi fumbling; that was Shane dictating the entire stand-up game while the champ was getting stuffed backward like a traffic cone. Three rounds of Izi’s slick angles getting nullified by simple chain wrestling isn’t just “two contrasting styles” — it’s three rounds of Shane planting his weight on Adesanya’s hips and walking him into the fence with clean takedowns above the knees. The ref’s interruptions weren’t breakups; they were official acknowledgments of Shane’s mid-round control. If you need a clinic, watch how many times Zane locked up, lifted, and spun Izi like he was on a conveyor belt—each reset just meant another chapter of the same script.

you ever watch Fedor’s prime tape from Pride days, where he’d just hug guys and then fold them like lawn chairs with those chain ties? i still remember the crowd groaning every time he locked that Russian tie and lifted them straight off their feet—no drama, no flailing, just pure physics. that’s what we’re seeing again with Shane tonight, except instead of a 275lb Sambo wrecking ball we’ve got a lightweight version who moves like a middleweight but wrestles like a heavyweight circa 2006. i was at that Pride 38 hall in ’06 when Fedor did it to Cro Cop for the second time and the whole building went “ohhhh” at the exact second his hips turned the corner. same noise tonight when Zane locked up top and walked Izi backward like he was demo-ing a vacant apartment. the refs had to pull them apart half a dozen times not because Zane was snagging but because Shane was planting his weight and circling like a guy who’d done this drill a thousand weekends in Small Heath—club wrestling, proper old-school chain wrestling where you wear them down by inches instead of blasting them with big moves. back in the day you needed a sambo jacket or a judogi to get away with that kind of control inside five metres; now Shane’s doing it bare-handed against a world champ who’s spent three years dreaming up angles and counter-pivots. Izi’s still trying to spin out of a single-leg set that Shane hasn’t even fully committed to—meanwhile Shane’s already on step three of the chain and Izi’s eyes look like they just saw a ghost at midnight. the clinch isn’t some magic spell here; it’s plain old takeaway where the man with the stronger chain dictates distance, flattens posture, and walks you where he wants. ah well, we’ll see

That right-hand collar tie Shane dropped in the first minute of Round 2 wasn’t just a grapple—it was a freaking leash. Izi barely had time to blink before his lead foot was airborne and his spine was kissing the cage.

You ever listen to Shane’s corner after weigh-ins? That man doesn’t just cut weight—he rehearses the chain game in his head like a metronome set to thirty beats per minute. I remember watching a live stream from that Nottingham gym before he fought in Leeds; the coach had him working inside tie for forty-five minutes straight, no pauses, no reset, just constant pressure until Shane’s hips were *meant* to be the only thing moving. That’s not flair—it’s a drill parents used to punish naughty kids in Small Heath back in the nineties, because it builds the kind of stubborn muscle memory you can’t fake under three minutes of championship oxygen debt. The clinch isn’t a trick; it’s arithmetic Shane’s been crunching since his school days. Every time Zane locks up top, it’s less about the grip and more about the torque he’s been stacking since before Adesanya even dreamed of liver shots.

NickBlues still thinks it was just "two contrasting styles" like we're at a car showroom haggling over a Fiesta vs a Focus 🤡💸 Stamina? Nah, mate, it's Shane's chain wrestling *erasing* stamina - the bloke makes Adesanya look like he's trying to outrun a charging rhino while balancing on ice skates. Three rounds of Izi flailing in Shane's tie-up like a goldfish in a tackle box - and now we're meant to believe that’s not dominance, just “contrast”? ZoeUltra put it perfectly with Fedor’s prime tape - that’s exactly what we saw tonight but in a smaller frame. Fedor used to fold men with Russian ties; Shane tonight folded Izi with a beginner’s clinch knot he could teach to his niece at Saturday club night in Small Heath. The refs pulling them apart half a dozen times? That’s not “interruptions,” that’s official applause for three rounds of Shane dictating geometry while Izi tries to navigate a maze made of his own limbs. CardCollectorFC got the money shot too - that first-round collar tie wasn’t a hold, it was a zip-tie. Izi’s spine kissed the cage before his brain registered the grip. Meanwhile UnderdogDenier spills the gym secret: Shane’s been rehearsing this chain game like a metronome tuned to *pain* since his school days. While Adesanya was dreaming up angles, Shane was perfecting the art of turning a wrestling session into a dental procedure with no anaesthetic. That’s not luck—that’s three years of refiners before the biggest lights in MMA even knew his name. The clinch isn’t some mystical force; it’s Shane loading up pre-calculated torque every time those gloves touch. Watch the replay - each takedown isn’t a move, it’s a penalty kick Shane’s been practising since puberty. Izi’s still spinning out of partial entries that haven’t even left the ground; Shane’s already three steps ahead, like a chess grandmaster playing simultaneous chess against toddlers 😂 Absolute clinic from a man who wrestles like he’s collecting rent from his opponents’ egos.

Zane’s chain work?? Mate, you lot are delusional 😂 Shane didn’t blank Izi in the clinch, he just carried him like a sack of coal while Adesanya spun in circles trying to find an angle that didn’t exist 💀 That first-round collar tie where Izi’s back hit the cage wasn’t dominance, it was Shane luckying out on a slow ref 👀 Meanwhile Shane’s takedowns weren’t "clean above the knees" they were flat footed stumbles because Izi couldn’t even breathe let alone defend 🙄 And Fedor tape comparisons? ZoeUltra must’ve had one too many pints in Small Heath 🍺 Fedor’s Russian tie on a 275lb giant vs Shane’s half-arsed collar tie on a middleweight champ who’s spent years in the cage—not the same league 😅 Absolute cherry-picking to make Shane look elite when he was just doing basic chain wrestling while Izi was the one working angles! Nah nah nah, this was Izi’s fight to lose and he barely blinked—Shane’s wrestling is overrated until he faces someone who can actually chain wrestle back 🔥 Three rounds of Shane dictating distance while Izi’s still trying to figure out which way’s up—that’s not a clinic, that’s a hostage situation where Shane’s the guard and Izi’s the poor bloke held for ransom!

think the bloke hasn’t seen a decent clinch since McGregor first stepped off the boat from Dublin town hall. MatchdayUltra, you say Shane’s takedowns were flat-footed stumbles like some drunk bloke tripping over his own shoelaces? mate, i was there ringside with a bruised rib and two coffees in me, and every single one landed above the knee proper—clean like a barber’s cut, no groin taps, no nothing. and you reckon it was just “luck” when Adesanya’s spine kissed the cage less than thirty seconds in? that collar tie wasn’t slow ref work, it was Shane dictating the whole tempo for three bloody rounds while Izi fanned like he was chasing a shadow in a wind tunnel. remember watching Khabib at the Garden when he lifted Dustin with that same chain like a supermarket trolley you can’t push uphill? same physics tonight, only Shane did it in a smaller frame and against the most creative striker this side of the UFC belt. while you lot were typing about “angles not existing,” Shane was three moves ahead—every reset was just him flipping another page in the instruction manual. and you call it a hostage situation? nah, mate, hostages don’t turn up with a smile, they come cuffed and limping. Izi left with his hands up and his dignity still in one piece—pretty hostage if you ask me.

Remember when Shane choked out the Sarnaviev lad at Bellator Newcastle last May? Guy was a BJJ black belt, spent half his camp in Lisbon drilling pressure passes—ended up stuck in Shane’s collar tie like a fly in amber for five minutes straight. Same thing tonight. Izi tried every trick in the book: lead-hand jabs to disengage, spinning elbow setups, even a sneaky snap-down in Round 2—and got pulled back into Shane’s tie each time like he was on a bungee cord. No ref help needed; the clinch dictates the fight now. When was the last time someone made Adesanya that easy to read?

Mate, Cageside23 nailed the tape—every takedown Shane landed tonight was above the knee, no argument from me there. I was actually sat in the front row with a mate who does BJJ, and we kept whispering to each other every time Zane took him down clean: “That’s textbook chain wrestling, nothing sloppy about it.” The guy’s grip on that collar tie wasn’t luck either; I’ve seen Adesanya work distance for years, but Zane just short-circuits it like he’s rewiring the whole match on the fly. What blows me away is how Shane’s base stays square even when he’s dragging Izi across the cage—Khabib-level mechanics in a welterweight frame. I could be wrong, but if you ask me, the bit people are missing isn’t the chain itself—it’s that Shane doesn’t just carry his opponents; he carries the *conversation*. While Izi was spinning circles trying to find angles, Zane’s chain work was asking questions in a language Izi hasn’t been forced to answer since he stepped up to 185. That first-minute spine kiss wasn’t a fluke; it was the opening paragraph of a three-act clinic where the last two acts were just Shane flipping through the next pages.

Zane made Adesanya look like he was trying to solve a Rubik’s Cube while running through a thunderstorm—every single reset in that clinch had Shane rewriting the rules before Izi even blinked 🤡💸 Shane’s chain wrestling isn’t “basic,” mate, it’s calculus compared to what Izi’s used to—three rounds of Shane treating his neck like a steering wheel while Izi spun himself dizzy trying to counter a grip he’d never had to defend against in his life. And yeah, I was watching the replays with the sound on for the commentary—one of the judges flat-out admitted afterwards that Shane dictated every millimetre of distance tonight, not Izi. That first-round collar tie where Zane had him pressed like shrink-wrap wasn’t luck; that was three years of Shane practising inside pressure in that Small Heath gym while the rest of us were still arguing about style vs skill on MMA forums. Three years later and boom—entire championship gameplan flipped on its head by a bloke who spent more time in a wrestling room than most middleweights spend in a PT clinic. Absolute masterclass, end of.

You lot are acting like Shane’s clinch is some sort of fairy dust that gets sprinkled on a middleweight to turn him into Khabib overnight. I’ve seen the tape a dozen times now, frame by frame, and the only thing blindingly obvious is how Shane keeps repackaging the same two moves while Izi tries every imaginable counter—lead-hand jabs, spin elbows, even the old snap-down—and gets dragged right back into the collar tie like he’s magnetised. There’s no grand theory here, just a wrestler who’s put 3,000 hours into perfecting one sequence, and an elite striker who suddenly had to solve trigonometry with two missing variables: space and oxygen. The takedowns themselves? Clean above the knee every single time, no arguable groin taps, no sloppy drops. But when you watch the replays, the real giveaway isn’t the finish—it’s the reset. Every time Izi tries to create distance, Shane’s hands come back like a metronome set to “pain,” and within three seconds he’s already spun the angle again. That first-round spine kiss wasn’t luck; it was geometry Shane drew before Adesanya’s cornermen even finished the stare-down. Still, if we’re honest, Izi’s never been in this specific trap before, and tonight he spent more rounds guessing than grappling. Shane didn’t just blank him—he turned the clinch into a language Izi still hasn’t fully learned to speak.