Former middleweight foe Alex Pereira has recently suggested that Israel Adesanya may have suffered an injury either before or during his recent UFC 305 main event against Dricus Du Plessis and Adesanya has cryptically confirmed his suspicion.
Earlier this August, former middleweight champion Israel Adesanya returned to the Octagon after an 11-month hiatus, where he finally took on Dricus Du Plessis in a huge grudge match.
After an extremely closely contested first three rounds, ‘The Last Stylebender’ was submitted in round four by the South African, with their longstanding feud finally put to bed for now.
Alex Pereira suggests Israel Adesanya could’ve been injured during UFC 305 main event
The 35-year-old started the fight looking relatively comfortable, with the first five minutes being quite even. Du Plessis then took over in round two, beginning to implement his solid game plan.
On two of the judges’ scorecards, ‘Stillknocks’ had done enough to take the first two rounds, with Adesanya coming into his own in round three, taking it on all three of the judges’ cards.
Former middleweight champion and longtime rival of the Nigerian-born Adesanya, Alex Pereira, recently suggested that the 35-year-old striker may have been injured during the blockbuster main event, pointing out one key thing.
“Of course, I don’t know how Adesanya was. When we are there, we don’t talk about injuries, don’t talk about problems. We are there, we want to fight, want to win. No excuses. Maybe Adesanya had an injury,” Pereira began to speculate in a video on his YouTube channel.
“You could see he kicked very little. I saw that inside kick of Adesanya is very good, not everyone can do that but he can do it very well. It was a good weapon and he didn’t continue doing that inside kick.
“Even Dricus said it bothered him, it also bothered me (when we fought). He didn’t continue to do it,” Pereira continued.
Israel Adesanya cryptically confirms Pereira’s injury suggestion
Following the fight, Israel Adesanya claimed that he wanted to get back to the gym as soon as possible and continue training, instead of taking a considerable amount of time away again.
Just a few weeks removed from the devastating result, ‘The Last Stylebender’ has traveled to Nigeria, where he was hoping to take the 185lb title back.
During his time there, the 35-year-old has cryptically confirmed Pereira’s suggestion that he may have been injured during the fight against Du Plessis.
“It’s weird how (well) this guy knows me… It’s like we’ve spent hours studying each other’s moves and fought multiple times or sumn’. I mean that,” Adesanya cryptically responded in a post on X.
During the fight, there was a brief moment just before the finishing sequence when Adesanya seemed to roll his ankle or slip. The commentary team mistakingly claimed that ‘Stillknocks’ caught him with a shot and that Adesanya attempted to engage him by pointing at the ground, like Max Holloway.
Adesanya came out and revealed that he wasn’t using Holloway’s famous gesture and instead, was telling Du Plessis that he slipped.
It is unclear as of now whether Adesanya suffered any injuries during the UFC 305 main event, and only time will tell, depending on how quickly he returns to training.