Pereira didn’t do anything notably different in the knockout exchange. He altered the arc of his herding punch (right hand) slightly to draw Adesanya into leaning rightward for the incoming left hook, but the biggest difference here was from Israel, standing southpaw. To respond to Alex’s right hand, his own rear left hand couldn’t be converted into a frame as easily since the distance between the two was greater. If you pause at 0.62 of the clip, Pereira has taken the outside angle on Israel, slipped underneath Adesanya’s rear hand frame, and all of his weight loaded up into the left hook. Conversely, Adesanya’s position is compromised with his frame offset, yet all of his weight remains on his front foot. He is effectively leaning into the best left hook in kickboxing.

The biggest takeaway from this fight is Adesanya’s blindspot for left-sided strikes, particularly when he switches southpaw. In general, Izzy does a great job of maintaining the distance in front of him and seeing his opponent’s punches coming, but when he’s standing in an open-stance engagement, he loses some initiative within the lead hand battle and it becomes easier for opponents to hook around his long guard. This same habit would surface against later in Israel’s career versus Kelvin Gastelum.

I don’t think the loss says anything particularly damning about Adesanya, considering his early success. He shifted out of his orthodox to give Pereira a new look, and it backfired.

Israel Adesanya vs. Brad Tavares

Israel Adesanya’s triumvirate of success is built off the hand feints, shoulder feints, and hip (or feet) feints. Similar to ACA alum, Alexandr Shabliy, Adesanya demonstrates the importance of diverse feints to exploit a variety of reactions. With his lead hand, he can paw, flash, throwaway, and properly feint to diffuse an opponent’s reactions, play with hand traps, occupy an opponent’s vision, and disguise the committed punches coming behind them feints. However, like Shabliy, Adesanya also recognizes the importance of rear hand feinting, be it if the jab is mitigated or if the left hook or jab is disguised.

However, Israel’s technical game runs even deeper. As a surprisingly deceptive and potent kicker, Adesanya’s hip feints are often used to take subtle offensive angles on his opponents, shift, and draw reactions. Finally, Israel’s shoulder feints function similar to his hand feints, but require even less commitment and often cause opponents to underestimate the distance between the two. Even his stance frequently vexes his opponents, since he will continually play off placing his weight over his lead hip and working with his rear hand, an uncommon interplay.

As my friend and colleague Ryan Wagner has pointed out in a previous article about Adesanya, Izzy’s weight distribution between his feet combined with his sneaky rear right hand means that opponents are even more confused at what is coming at them, and from what angle:

“When a fighter is coiled over the rear hip with weight loaded on the rear leg, a la Dan Henderson, he is in perfect position to transfer weight explosively forward into a rear straight or overhand. Likewise, when a fighter is coiled over his lead hip, his opponent will generally be expecting a lead hook. By leaning over his lead hip and firing off the straight, Adesanya makes it more difficult to anticipate. If his opponents get too comfortable waiting on the straight when he’s on his lead hip, the threat of the up-jab exists to keep them honest,” (Israel Adesanya vs. Brad Tavares: The Birth of a Star).

Against Brad Tavares, Adesanya was given a showcase opportunity. His performance against the Hawaiian highlighted just how layered his game can be when every single piece gets rolling.