Former middleweight champion Israel Adesanya was subject of one of the most talked about UFC callouts last night.
In the UFC 308 main card opener, Shara ‘Bullet’ Magomedov landed a stunning double spinning backfist knockout on Armen Petrosyan to earn his third victory since June. And he immediately showed off his newfound English skills to call out Adesanya in his post-fight interview.
The Nigerian famously watches all pay-per-views at his home in New Zealand with friends, and shares a video of his reactions on YouTube. And it was no different this morning as he posted a video with his takes on the fights.
Shara Magomedov calls out Israel Adesanya after stunning UFC 308 KO
After last time around calling out Nick Diaz, Shara ‘Bullet’ Magomedov had to be very careful about his next steps on the microphone. Fans did not find the plan to face 41-year-old Diaz charming, and were outraged when he was the name mentioned in his post-fight interview back in August.
So after Magomedov landed a stunning second round knockout win over Petrosyan, there was an interest to see who he would go for next. He has mentioned the likes of Kevin Holland before, but it was former world champion Israel Adesanya who instead came to mind.
With just eight seconds left of the second round, Magomedov landed a huge spinning back fist to the chin of Petrosyan. And as he spun back around, he landed another one that floored his opponent and saw the fight instantly stopped.
In his post-fight interview, he gave a rare comment in English, telling Daniel Cormier: “Thank you very much, I am happy, very happy. Listen to me guys, I am the best striker in this division, I am smash Israel Adesanya.
“Stay in your seats, this island was captured by the pirate [his fight nickname], don’t panic. Dana White, I came for my gold!”
Israel Adesanya laughs off Shara Magomedov with Will Smith joke
Adesanya opted against putting the popular Russian’s name in his video title, but the callout made it early into his video. At times he looked to be struggling to stay awake, telling fans in the comments that he was having trouble with the 5am prelim start time in New Zealand.
And when Magomedov’s callout came on, he first jokingly quoted Hollywood star Will Smith’s Oscars outburst at Chris Rock as he told him “keep my name out your f***ing mouth”. He then joked that he was like the meme where 50 Cent asks “what he say f*** me for?”
Ultimately, he breezed past actually giving an answer, and it remains to be seen if he would be willing to lower himself to an unranked contender after just fighting for the belt. His last 12 fights were for world titles, whereas Magomedov until now has yet to take on a ranked opponent.