Is it Adesanya's fault that his fights haven't been exciting?

After a pretty dull fight at UFC 276 many have pointed out Israel Adesanya recent fights haven't been the most exciting with his last 4 fights going to decision in unspectacular fashion but is it his fault?.

The fans always want to see an action packed fight with both fighters leaving it all out there but I don't think you can put the whole blame on Adesanya for his recent performances. His opponents haven't exactly been willing to close the distance after seeing his rise putting out the likes of Derek Brunson, Robert Whittaker and Paulo Costa where those guys were probably naive to storm in and close distance something that Adesanya will punish you for. Yoel Romero, Robert Whittaker, Marvin Vettori and now Jared Cannonier have all been weary to close the distance quickly after seeing what has happened to recent opponents and I don't think you can blame Adesanya too much for playing it safe and keeping his belt using his range with leg kicks and jabs to do just enough to keep his belt. As a challenger you have to take a few more risks if you know the champion isn't going to engage first but obviously not storming in like Robert Whittaker did in their first meeting. Adesanya is a tricky puzzle to solve with his length and speed no one in that division apart from maybe Adesanya's potential next opponent Alex Periera can win in a stand up fight, Jared Cannonier needed to mix it up and at least threaten with takedowns to open up the striking. That's why in the UFC you see wrestlers knock up kick boxers because of the threat of the takedown and its kind of mind boggling that Cannonier didn't at least try considering his size, look at what happened when Adesanya fought Jan Blachowicz even though Jan isn't the best wrestler in the world.

Overall I do think that Adesanya needs to engage more in his fights otherwise people are going to stop tuning in if he's fighting, he can't be content to sit on the outside and point fight. His opponents however have to be willing to take more risks their in the biggest fight of their life and if in the fifth round they know their losing surely changing what they've been doing and taking risks is what they've gotta do and seeing Cannonier just be content stick to his game plan was mind boggling. In a fight against Adesanya you're going to have to give some to take some like Kelvin Gastelum did and although he lost gave Izzy his biggest challenge, if Izzy does fight Alex Pereira next it may be a chess match but Alex will go for the kill knowing and defeating Izzy twice in kickboxing which should at least mean Adesanya's next fight isn’t a snooze fest.