Israel Adesanya has difficult decisions to make about his future after having undergone a third consecutive defeat following a brutal KO delivered by Nassourdine Imavov at the main UFC event.
Although there is certainly no shame in losing a fighter of first 10 classified in addition to the previous defeats against the champion in title of the average weights of the UFC Dricus du Plessis and the candidate n ° 1 Sean Strickland, C ‘is an unknown territory for Adesanya. The temple of the renown of the UFC, Michael Bisping, who also held the average weight title in the past, congratulated Adesanya for all that he has done in his career, but it is likely that he will not come back Never again at the top of the mountain.
“The biggest point to remember is that it’s over,” said Bisping during the post-combat show in Saudi Arabia of the UFC. “The reign of Israel Adesanya as a champion, I don’t think I will come back.
“I say that with the greatest respect and I really think so. An original. An incredible fighter. A legend of sport. A future temple of fame. But his time at the top is over. »»
It is difficult to plead against the logic of Bisping given the sequence of three games of Adesanya, associated with the fact that he is 36 years later this year and that time does not expect anyone in this sport.
Although nothing is impossible, Bisping knows that it would be incredibly difficult for Adesanya to set up the kind of race now which would ultimately bring it back to UFC gold.
Fortunately, Adesanya’s inheritance is already cemented after keeping big as UFC’s average weight champion for three years and five defends in title. Even after losing the belt against the longtime rival Alex Pereira in 2022, Adesanya recovered it with a revenge measure when he beat the Brazilian in the revenge match six months later.
“The career he had is legendary, but more importantly, the man is an original,” said Bisping about Adesanya. “Man is unique. Yes, we have seen big kickboxers and we will see more big kickboxers, but the people who have the rocket, the charisma, did they put on the program that Israel Adesanya made? Debraying to post-combat speeches that we saw when he beat Alex Pereira, and that gives you chills. I will never forget that. Everyone remembers looking at this for the first time. Make the breakdance at the exit, the whole light of light and everything else.
“Yeah, ok, the ko are memorable, they are incredible, they are incredible, right?” When you combine it (with) everything else, I mean that man is an absolutely superstar. He really is. Of course, the second best average weight of all time, without the shadow of a doubt. He will say n ° 1 but that’s what we do. We are fighters. We will always say that we are n ° 1. “
As much as the three consecutive losses are right now, Bisping also underlines that Adeanya has almost certainly put her body through hell during a career that dates back almost 15 years between kickboxing and MMA.
All this culminates in nights like these at UFC Saudi Arabia where Adesanya must now think really about his future to decide where he goes from here.
“A long career at the highest level has a lot of wear on the body and not just fights,” said Bisping. “Training camps. Training camps are worse than fighting. A fight is won and you could go there, we saw Israel Adesanya, just destroy people, use the kicks of the leg, make them pimp, beating them easily, but that doesn’t does not occur in the training camp. Otherwise, you do not improve. You get worse. You build bad habits. You must be pushed and bring people to get you down, to fight, to you and to hammer, to suffocate you. You refine your ankles and legs. You punch on the chin.
“When you do this at the highest level, you train accordingly, this is what is wreaking havoc on the body. Yes, he takes bumps and bumps inside the octagon. He took one tonight. But that combined with years and years of training to reach this level, this is the problem. This is the problem.