If you stick around the fight game long enough, you understand that a star’s journey is most vital in the hurdle stages — the early moments when he’s unfolding like a mystery, and dawning on everyone at once. The more a new phenom can abuse any prevailing skepticism, the better.
This is particularly true of Israel Adesanya, who at on Friday night fought for the third time in six months and seems capable of doing just about anything he damn well chooses. In beating Brad Tavares in a way that nobody beats Brad Tavares in his first UFC main event, the praise was swift and effusive and full of manifest satisfaction.