Former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya has hinted at a retirement date.
‘The Last Stylebender’ was in attendance for the UFC 284 event headlined by Islam Makhachev and Alexander Volkanovski. During his time there, Adesanya had a media interaction during which he spoke about potential retirement. The 33-year-old said that he does not see himself fighting in the UFC after five more years:
“I’ve been in the UFC five years, right? If I’m being honest, I’m not gonna be here in five years. I have other things to do in life… I love this s**t and I’m f**king great at it but I never attach myself to this and I’m gonna leave on top. So yeah, that’s the place where I feel like you should leave. But again, I’ve been here five years in the UFC, [snaps fingers] it went like that. We’ll see how long I’m here for but I don’t think it’s gonna be five years.”
Israel Adesanya is currently scheduled to fight Alex Pereira for the middleweight title at UFC 287. In their previous encounter, ‘The Last Stylebender’ was cruising to a decision victory but Pereira pulled off a TKO victory in the final round to become the new middleweight king.
Prior to their UFC fight, Adesanya and Pereira fought twice in kickboxing and the Brazilian emerged victorious on both occasions. It would be interesting to see whether Adesanya will finally be able to defeat Pereira or will ‘Poatan’ go 5-0 against the New Zealander in combat sports.
Robert Whittaker weighs in on Israel Adesanya’s mindset ahead of UFC 287
Robert Whittaker believes Israel Adesanya might be in a better state of mind ahead of his fight against Alex Pereira at UFC 287. Speaking about the middleweight title fight, ‘The Reaper’ said that losing to Pereira might have relieved the pressure off Adesanya’s shoulders:
“If we look at the fight just from a mental perspective, I believe Adesanya had a better chance last fight, but in saying that though, maybe now that the worst has happened, again, it frees him up for the next one. You can see where it can swing both ways really easily.It can either swing one way where it frees him up – the worst has happened, whatever, he gets in there mentally free. Or, he’s worried about it happening again with the small gloves because it has happened.”
Whittaker and Adesanya have faced off twice inside the octagon. ‘The Reaper’ has come up short on both occasions but considering the talent and skill possessed by the two fighters, a third fight might be a reality in the future.
Catch Robert Whittaker’s comments on Alex Pereira vs. Israel Adesanya 2 below (7:00):
