Israel Adesanya and Derek Brunson have no love lost for one another. Sometimes we as human beings develop enemies or just grow to generally dislike an individual without even knowing the origin of the disdain. Israel Adesanya is not one of them…at least not when it comes to Derek Brunson. No, Adesanya remembers the precise moment that he wanted to punch Derek Brunson in the face.
“In Auckland, it’s Kiwi country, there’s not really many black people,” Adesanya began in an interview with Bloody Elbow. “So there’s a unwritten etiquette amongst black people that, when you see each other, you kind of give this nod of acknowledgement. I saw him, and I just nodded at him like what’s up, and he iced me.
“At that moment, I knew I was [eventually] gonna fight this guy. He’s a shit cunt. Even back then in 2015, he knew who I was. It shows all these motherfuckers already know me, but they’re too scared to say my name. He still hasn’t said my name. But, like Muhammad Ali did, I’m gonna make him say my name come November 3rd.”
Adesanya believes that he is already controlling the pace of the fight, the mental and verbal war that is, with Brunson two steps behind the fleet-footed Stylebender
“Anything I do he’s ‘Mr. Me-Too,’ Adesanya said. I put out a meme? ‘Yeah, me too.’ I insult him at the bar? ‘Yeah, me too.’ He’s just trying to copy me. I already make him do what I want to when I want to. I can make him dance and swing that sloppy overhand right when I want to. He’s one of those guys that I’m not going to feel bad about if he’s seriously hurt after the fight, let’s just put it that way.
“With his style and his chin, I don’t know if he can hold up past round one. I want it to go to two for one reason, and that’s to see his face [on the stool]. I want him to look across gasping, trying to get some fresh air in his lungs, and I want him to know he’s fucked. I want him to have that feeling “There’s nothing I have left to give”, and then I finish him there.”
UFC 230 takes place from the Madison Square Garden on November 3rd. The main event for the card remains in limbo.
Do you believe Israel Adesanya is winning the trash talk battle between himself and Derek Brunson thus far?
