Former UFC Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya might return to Octagon before 2024 ends. This has been hinted at by his coach, Eugene Bareman himself. “The Last Stylebender” failed to capture the Middleweight title from Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 305. But according to Bareman, Adesanya is eager to return to fighting soon.
During an interview with Combat TV, Eugene said, “I would say that Izzy will fight again this year as well. It could be all on again, this year, it just doesn’t stop.” For now Adesanya has gone back to Nigeria to rest for some time and connect with his roots.
Izzy was dominated at UFC 305
“The Last Stylebender” had a big opportunity to cement his status as a top fighter in the middleweight division at UFC 305. Challenging “Stillknocks” for the championship, Adesanya also went on a verbal tirade as match day approached. After Dricus Du Plessis called himself the true African champion, Adesanya called him out for having a colonial mindset. Going into the matchup, “Izzy” was the fan favorite and even several analysts and fighters voted him as the potential winner.
However, once the match started, Du Plessis looked quite dominant against Adesanya. When the Nigerian tried to attack, “Stillknocks” stood his ground and let Adesanya spend his energy. When Du Plessis found the perfect moment, he took Adesanya down and caught him in a choke, which eventually led to “Izzy” tapping out.
This was one of the big losses of Adesanya’s MMA career. Despite once ruling the middleweight division, “The Last Stylebender’ initially lost his championship to Alex Pereira. However, he quickly made a comeback and reclaimed his title from “Poatan.” However, since then, Adesanya has lost two matches. He lost his title to Sean Strickland and most recently suffered defeat at the hands of Du Plessis.
Adesanya’s coach praised Du Plessis’ performance
While talking about Izzy’s recent loss, Eugene said that his UFC 305 defeat was much easier to accept. During his appearance on the WTFATG podcast, Bareman highly praised Dricus’ performance inside the Octagan. But for the Strickland loss, he put the entire blame on Adesanya and stated that Izzy looked inexplicably outmatched and was doing everything wrong that day.
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