Former UFC heavyweight turned talking head Brendan Schaub recently offered his own opinion on kickboxers transitioning into the sport of mixed martial arts. Believing the conversation was about him, UFC’s Israel Adesanya has come forward with some heated words on the matter.
Speaking on his podcast Bellow The Belt, Schaub revealed that he believes kickboxers rarely transition well into the sport of MMA. The former fighter appeared to be talking about kickboxing legend Gokhan Saki, as the fighter faced a first round knockout loss inside the octagon recently.
“I think everybody is all high and mighty on these guys who come from kickboxing, boxing backgrounds. When they come over to the UFC, they expect them to be elite strikers. The distance, the combos, the head movement, the number of variables, it’s a completely different game. So to me that never translates.”
Taking to Instagram, Adesanya has revealed that the statement caused some beef between him and Schaub.
“So this is where my wahala with Brendan started. Yo B, you can’t even act like you never seen or heard bout this…let’s keep it hunnid. So whenever my name came up he’d give props reluctantly and lowkey throw shade at me (I’m not stupid). One time on a fight companion when Rogan kept tryna talk about me, but Brendon would try divert the attention to someone else on the card, multiple times.
“It wasn’t until Joe said “pull up Stylebender Jamie!!” and I was on the screen that he was forced to sit and watch me. Lol he even taught Tavares was gonna beat me (the audacity!!). As a “fight expert” you shoulda done your homework homeboy.
“I know he was talking bout Saki, but his opinion is not law!! I listen to #TFATK cuz Bryan’s old and gay af, Brendan has ideas that challenge mine sometimes. Can’t always listen to people you agree with, but yea Brendon says dumb shit a lot and I just whisper #shutupbrendan…but so do I. I could go deeper into this but I’m hungry…cbf. I’m the new dog in the yard…remember that xo”
