If Israel Adesanya had his way, he’ll be fighting sooner rather than later.
The former middleweight champion returned after nearly a year layoff in August at UFC 305 in Perth, where he was submitted by Dricus du Plessis in the fourth round. “The Last Stylebender” has now lost two straight, and three of four, but none of that seems to matter. Adesanya is enjoying himself as a fighter, and wants to keep having fun, competitive battles. In fact, Adesanya says he’d be willing to fight again before the end of the year.
“Even though I don’t have the belt, they still got my name in their mouth,” Adesanya said on The Adam Carolla Show. “I’m still Israel Adesanya. For me, I’ll let them call me out, or whatever. At the moment, I want to fight one more time before the end of this year, or early next year. But I don’t know yet. I’m just training, building off where we left off, and I’ll get the call at some point with a few options. I’m sure Dana [White] will hit me up at some point.”
Adesanya was one of the most active champions in UFC history during his title run, but would eventually drop the middleweight belt to longtime rival Alex Pereira at UFC 281 in November 2022. Five months later, Adesanya regained the belt with the 2023 Knockout of the Year against Pereira at UFC 287.
The reign didn’t last long as Sean Strickland stunned the MMA community with a lopsided decision victory at UFC 293 in September 2023, a result that led to Adesanya taking a step back from competition.
He returned against rival du Plessis, and while Adesanya was competitive, it didn’t go his way, and moments before the finishing sequence from du Plessis is where Adesanya believes it all slipped away.
“It was just a moment in the fight where, it was my footwork,” Adesanya explained. “I did something and I slipped. And then I pointed to the ground and was like, ‘It wasn’t you, it was the ground,’ and in that moment, I shouldn’t have pointed to the ground. ... He jumped on that.
“Look, this is the game. I messed up, my bad, but I wasn’t really attached to the outcome. I just wanted to show off. I wanted to actually be in a fight, and it was a good fight. I enjoyed myself.”
Adesanya is taking the loss in stride, and it has only enhanced his hunger to get back in the octagon.
“I can’t wait to do it again,” Adesanya said. “Against who? We’ll find out.”
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