he was definitely respecting Anderson, but it's not because he was in Pat Barry mode.
like i said in other posts, Adesanya sets up a lot of his offense off establishing the jab and using jab feints to get reactions. when you take away his jab, or don't give it respect, it's much harder for Adesanya to employ his style.
Adesanya isn't a counter striker like a lot of people say he is, he's a rangy fighter. he never really counters strikes, his offense doesn't come from making people miss and pay, his offense comes from him making them react to a feint, reading the reaction, and then using the feint as a misdirection and hitting them on the open side with a different strike.
in that sense, Adesanya is definitely a sophisticated striker, because barely any MMA striker use that style. but it doesn't mean that he's harder to beat than other MMA strikers, he's just different. his defense isn't that impressive to me, and his offense relies heavily on his jab. so even though his offensive strategy is sophisticated, his tactics to employ his strategy is rather rudimentary. like i said, take away his jab and he's much easier to strike with.
