UFC 276: Joe Rogan waxes lyrical over Israel Adesanya ahead of Jared Cannonier fight

Israel Adesanya is the best striker in the UFC, according to MMA legend Joe Rogan.

Adesanya will defend his UFC middleweight title against Jared Cannonier at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on July 2.

The legendary UFC commentator was very complimentary towards Adesanya, 32, and suggested he is on a different level to everyone else on the roster.

He also revealed he had got in contact with him before he joined the UFC in February 2018.

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He said on his podcast: “Izzy’s just the most sophisticated of strikers.

“If you watch striking, if you’re a person who likes striking, and you like setups and stuff, he’s doing something very different because he’s getting guys to move a certain way.

“He’s reading you, like when you see Izzy moving around, he’s reading you.

“He’s downloading all your data and he can see weaknesses in people. A great example is Paulo Costa. Paulo Costa steamrolled everybody. He was just smashing people.

“He’s a giant dude. They call him The Eraser. He would just move forward.

“And Izzy just picked him apart and made him look foolish.

“By the end of the first round, you could see he was baffled, he was f**ked cos he knew, ‘I can’t hit this dude and he’s standing right in front of me.’ He would swing at Izzy and he’d be just out of range, and then he’d make him pay.

“He’s just so slick, man. For a guy like me who’s been interested in striking his whole life, seeing a guy like this that was a top-flight kickboxer make his way into MMA.

“I reached out to Izzy before he ever fought in the UFC. I saw him fight in kickboxing matches and I reached out to him on Instagram, way back in the day. He was telling me that he’s taking some fights in China