Where This Whole Thing Started
Alright, so honestly, I had one of those weird, bored days where nothing new was dropping on my usual feeds. Scrolling endlessly, wasting time, you know how it goes. Suddenly remembered Adesanya’s knockout last week – pure fire. Started daydreaming about his other wild fights, and boom, idea hits: why not rank his top 5 must-watch scraps? Seemed simple enough, figured I’d bang it out quick.
Figuring Out What Went Down
First step? Gotta actually remember all his good ones. My memory’s spotty sometimes. Sat down, fired up the computer, opened a blank doc. Typed “Adesanya UFC” and went hunting. Man, UFC’s site is messy. Had to dig through event pages, results sections… total slog. Kept getting distracted by highlight clips popping up – dude makes violence look graceful. Wasted like an hour just watching snippets instead of listing them. Not productive!
Then reality kicked in. Forgot how many fights he actually has. Needed a better way. Started making notes:
- Fight Date? Gotta know which came first.
- The Opponent. Seriously matters. Whittaker? Pereira? Gastelum? Cannonier? So many big names.
- The Crazy Moment™. Every great fight has that one oh snap! sequence. Tried to pin that down for each.
Why was each one important? Was it the finish? The back-and-forth? The hype? Kept asking myself that.
Opened a spreadsheet because the doc became a total mess. Spilled coffee on my notes trying to sort papers. Ugh.
The Real Struggle
This is where it got frustrating. Went back to actually watch full fights to refresh my memory. Sitting there for ages. Buffering. Glitches. Found a solid Gastelum fight stream, started watching… laptop fan sounded like a jet engine. Almost thought it’d crash. Seriously annoying!
Pulled up the Adesanya vs Whittaker 1 fight. Seeing that knockout again… cold. Absolutely legendary. But then Pereira? Brutal. Whittaker 2? Masterclass. Trying to compare that technical fight against the pure drama of the Gastelum war? Headache city. Wrote down like 10 fights that could be top 5. Way too many.
Started asking myself hard questions: “Did the outcome blow minds?” “Would a new fan lose their mind watching this?” Had to axe some good fights just because they weren’t must see crazy.
Almost gave up around fight #3 ranking. Stared at my screen blankly for 10 minutes. Seriously wanted to just throw out a random top 5 and be done. But nah, felt like cheating.
How I (Finally) Sorted It Out
Took a walk. Seriously. Cleared my head. Came back, decided it had to be based on pure, unadulterated entertainment value and iconic moments. Screw the technical stuff if it wasn’t wild to watch.
Looked at my messy list again. Whittaker 1? That finish is burned into history. Number 1, no question. Then… Pereira. That revenge knockout after being down? Cinematic. Had to be high. Gastelum? Surviving that hell and winning? Legendary grit. Whittaker 2? Showed sheer dominance. Cannonier? Maybe not a barnburner, but that level of control against a monster? Unique.
Started arranging them like puzzle pieces, arguing with myself out loud. Penciled in Pereira at #2 then moved him up, then back down. Changed the order maybe five times. My notepad looked like chicken scratch.
Pounded out the descriptions thinking about those exact moments that stick with you. Trying to capture that feeling without just recapping the whole damn fight. Took effort to make it feel electric.
Done? Finally.
Pressed save. Leaned back. Felt like I just fought five rounds myself! Making a ranking seems simple until you actually try to do it justice. Wanted to do Izzy’s brilliance right, you know? Honestly questioned my sanity halfway through rewatching all that carnage. But yeah, it’s done. Pushed it live. Hope folks enjoy the ride as much as I did pulling it together (even if it drove me nuts). Now… coffee and quiet.
