Much has been said about Israel Adesanya’s latest defeat — a knockout loss to Nassourdine Imavov at UFC Fight Night Saudi Arabia. The setback marked the former two-time middleweight champion’s third consecutive defeat and has fueled widespread speculation about his future in the sport.
“The Last Stylebender” finds himself outside of title contention for the first time in nearly seven years. At 35 years old, with over 100 professional combat sports bouts, and three stoppage losses in his last four defeats, some fans question whether Adesanya has peaked.
However, he insists he’s taking a different approach to this unfamiliar territory.
Adesanya admits his mindset has shifted following his recent losses, and he’s no longer focused on chasing the title.
“After the DDP fight, I remember thinking, ‘Oh well, cool. It’ll come around. I don’t have to chase it. It’ll come around.’ I expected. Now after this fight, I’m just kind of like, ‘You know what? I’m not expecting anything,’” Adesanya said. “I’m not expecting to be the champ again. If what I’ve done in this game doesn’t make me happy already, then what will? So I’m not expecting it. If it comes, I’ll take it with both hands, but I’m not expecting it. I’m kind of just chilling and living, training, doing well.”
Despite his struggles, Adesanya remains defiant toward those who believe his best days are behind him.
“They call me washed, but how are you going to call me washed when you haven’t even been in laundry?” Adesanya said. “You haven’t even gotten dirty. What have you done?”
As for what’s next, the Nigerian-New Zealander is uncertain but isn’t rushing into any decisions.
“To be honest, I don’t know,” Adesanya said when asked about his future. “I have an idea when I want to fight-ish, but for the first time—I want to say ‘a long time,’ but I’ve never really been in this position. So I don’t know, and I’m just taking it as it comes. It’s nice, because before I came on the scene, I had to adapt and call a lot of audibles as things were playing along, and call my next move. But now I’ll just plot.”
With his next steps still unclear, Adesanya embraces the unknown and focuses on training rather than immediate title aspirations.
