Israel Adesanya makes UFC 317 prediction for Charles Oliveira vs. Ilia Topuria

Israel Adesanya has made his pick for the UFC 317 main event between Charles Oliveira and Ilia Topuria.

Oliveira and Topuria will be competing for the vacant UFC Lightweight Championship on Saturday. The two will do battle inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Once the fight begins, Islam Makhachev will officially vacate the 155-pound gold.

Ahead of fight night, Adesanya has revealed his prediction for the UFC 317 headliner.

RELATED: FORMER UFC CHAMPION SHARES GRIM PREDICTION FOR CHARLES OLIVEIRA’S FIGHT AGAINST ILIA TOPURIA

Adesanya Picks Oliveira Over Topuria
In a new video posted on his YouTube channel, Israel Adesanya weighed in on Charles Oliveira’s chances against Ilia Topuria. “The Last Stylebender” admitted that he feels “do Bronx” leaves himself open far too much to overcome “El Matador” (h/t MMAJunkie).

“To beat two of the greatest featherweights of all time, back-to-back, it’s hard to doubt a guy like that again,” Adesanya said of Topuria on his YouTube channel. “(Oliveira) gets caught too much for my liking, that’s the thing. If he wants to go forward straight away, he’s going to get caught. I just see Ilia as too sharp with the hands, man. He’s too sharp with the hands.”

Still, Adesanya believes there could be a path to victory for Oliveira.

“Charles needs to feint or just find a way to cause doubt in Ilia’s mind, and also good footwork, because I don’t think he’s going to be moving forward for long,” Adesanya said. “He’s going to have to move backwards, and when that happens, he has to use good footwork to get back to the center, and then attack from there.”

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