VIDEO: Israel Adesanya training BJJ with Craig Jones during MMA hiatus
While he may tease a return in 2027, former two-time UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya is not taking his time off from work. Just released on his YouTube, Adesanya dropped a video of he and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Star Craig Jones training together. Watch that video below.
Israel Adesanya: The Last Stylebender
Israel Adesanya takes his nickname, “The Last Stylebender,” seriously. Mixing in a slurry of boxing, Muay Thai and kickboxing, Adesanya has built a formidable game that saw him become champion and beat names like Robert Whittaker, Alex Pereira, and Anderson Silva.
But it seems he is bending the styles even further. Always the student, Adesanya is upping his grappling game by working with Craig Jones. Jones is, of course, a two time silver medalist in ADCC, Jiu jitsu’s premier no-gi championship tournament.
The connection with Jones makes sense for Israel Adesanya. He is teammates with Alexander Volkanovski through City Kickboxing. Volkanovski has trained with Craig Jones in the past in preparation for his two fights with Islam Makhachev.
Adesanya wanting to level up his ground game and be a better student can only be good for the Nigerian native. Jones is as good as anyone in the world and the thought of Adesanya going to the ground and choking someone out with high level Jiu Jitsu is terrifying for middleweights. For years the plan has been to take him down to beat him.
That plan has been unsuccessful as Adesanya has a 77% takedown defense over fifteen UFC fights total. If he becomes dangerous off his back, or even through offensive wrestling, that incentive to do so will not be there and his opponents will be damned if they do and damned if they don’t.
However long Israel Adesanya takes off from competing won’t matter. He’s a student of the sport and will continue to get better.
