Israel Adesanya is returning to the UFC with a new outlook on fighting and a renewed faith in the unique style that carried him to the top of the sport.
Israel Adesanya is set to return at UFC 305 on August 17th against middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis. It’s been a minute since “The Last Stylebender” has fought — 11 months, which is a long stretch considering Izzy fit his last three fights into the same amount of time.
In a new interview, Adesanya says the break was essential to regaining focus on what he wanted to do in this final phase of his fight career.
“The hiatus was definitely needed,” he told Sias Du Plessis. “Because physically, mentally, even spiritually, I just needed a break from not just the fights but from the training camps and the constant rigmarole we put our bodies through as warriors. So it was good for me to just unplug from the game.”
“I’ve learned a lot in the time I’ve been away. I’ve always been a patient guy if you’ve actually paid attention to what I’m doing, but I’ve got more patience now, more clarity. And I’m sure of what I wanna achieve in this this last chapter of my game.”
While Israel Adesanya is stepping right back into a title fight against Du Plessis in Perth, Australia, he said he’s not driven by a desire to win the belt back.
“I’m the two-time UFC middleweight champion,” he said. “To make it three times, that’ll be nice, but it’s not really the main goal. For me, it’s about beating warriors from different codes, different nations, great fighters like Dricus, take them out, put them on my record, and move on to the next one until I’m done. That’s what it’s about.”
“The belt, it was always like, yeah, definitely be a UFC champ, but to get there was more the journey. I was just enjoying beating people up. So I’m back there. I’m just gonna enjoy beating people up and the belt will come, and it’ll stay. And eventually I’ll let it go.”
When discussion turned to how he’d handle the physicality and strength of Dricus Du Plessis, Israel Adesanya didn’t seem concerned.
“I fought the largest middleweight, Alex Pereira, and I knocked him out,” he said. “How am I gonna deal with Dricus’ uniqueness? It’s just be unique myself. Be unique to who I am.”
“Never again will I ever stray away from my style or my flow just because I wanna do something different or pander or anything like that. I’m always gonna stick to my style and stick to what I do best, which is beating people up in fantastic fashion. And, yeah, I’ve done that my whole career, and I wanna get back to that. I’m not really worried about the outcome. It’s more about the journey.”
We’ll get to see the results of Israel Adesanya’s mental refocusing on August 17th.