Oct 25th, 2018

Oct 25th, 2018

Rising MMA star Israel Adesanya wants a Wallabies-All Blacks type trans-Tasman showdown with Australia's UFC middleweight world champion Robert Whittaker

The Nigerian-born Aucklander has lived up to the hype accompanying him this year into the UFC.

He won his first three fights, earning two performance-of-the-night bonuses and swelling his MMA record to 14-0.

Adesanya is already ranked ninth and gets a chance to rise even higher the weekend after next.

He fights sixth-ranked Derek Brunson on UFC 230 at New York's fabled Madison Square Garden.

The main bout is Daniel Cormier's heavyweight title defence against American compatriot Derrick Lewis, but the card also features two more potential contenders for Whittaker's crown in Chris Weidman and Ronaldo Souza, who are ranked third and fifth respectively.

Sydneysider Whittaker is injured but is scheduled to make his next title defence in 2019 against Kelvin Gastelum.

"The next 12 months I will be holding the belt. I just want to see how Robert does with Kelvin Gastelum first," Adesanya told AAP .

"Let's make a classic - the Wallaby versus the big All Black; do it at Spark Arena (in Auckland); we'll sell that out.'

'We want to bring that one to New Zealand where I take the belt from him.

"Kelvin is no joke - he's (Whittaker's) got to get past Kelvin first.

"He (Whittaker) seems like a lovely chap, a family guy. My teammates even say he's nice to them, so I have nothing against him - it's purely sport."

American Brunson should be a good measuring stick for Adesanya.

Brunson suffered a first-round loss in late 2016 to Whittaker, but his list of victims includes Australian Daniel Kelly.

Adesanya predicted he would knock Brunson out in the first or second round.

"He (Brunson) is very chaotic, he's very clumsy and that's what makes him dangerous," Adesanya said.

"But at the same time, that's what makes him very, very susceptible to my strikes, because he's a guy that's going to run forward with his chin in the air, swinging like a wild man.

"A lot of people don't know how to deal with that, but I'm chaotic as well. But my chaos is organised and I can fight any style I want.

"With this guy, I really want to showcase a spectacular counter-striking game against him."

©AAP2018