Former Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight
king Israel
Adesanya is going in a new direction.
Posting a video on his personal YouTube channel on Thursday titled
“I’m Leaving
CKB,” Adesanya explained that he was doing just that: departing
the confines of Auckland, New Zealand-based camp City Kickboxing.
The 36-year-old ex-kickboxer has fallen on hard times as of late,
dropping four straight, although two of his last four outings were
for his old middleweight title.
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The split came effective May 20, per “The Last Stylebender,” who
does so a little under two months after losing to Joe Pyfer by
knockout in the UFC Seattle headliner. Per the fighter, he needed a
fresh start, and most importantly, personalized training instead of
being in a room full of top-ranked athletes who all vie for
attention from the coaches. Adesanya claimed it had been brewing
for a while, and that he still mourns the absence of the team as a
main part of his life.
I am not coming back to City Kickboxing
Adesanya stated, “So [Wednesday, May 20], I spoke to [head coach]
Eugene [Bareman] face-to-face, and I told him I am not coming back
to CKB,” Adesanya opened with in his video. “This was something a
long time coming behind the scenes, and we have an understanding. I
won’t lie; it sucks.” He continued, “Grief comes in waves for me. For most people, I’ve
grieved before, so this, it comes in waves. I’ve had great days,
but also there’s days where I’m like [exasperated sigh]. And it’s a
long time coming, I just want to get it out [of] the way because I
want you to hear from the horse’s mouth because no one else has
spoken about it. I guess those who know are waiting for the ball to
drop, so [motions a ball dropping] I dropped the ball.”
The former champion was simultaneously gracious for those that
helped him grow over the years and crestfallen that it was the end
of an era.
“It’s bittersweet,” he admitted, “but it’s the right thing for me.
Especially where I am at in my career, it’s exactly what I needed.
Insanity is doing the same s–t and expecting different results,
so…I think that’s it, I just don’t want to talk about it. It’s
something like I said that sucks, I want to grieve in peace.”
Having a bit more to get out after all, the Nigerian-born athlete
carried on, saying, “[If] people want to bring it up, that’s cool,
don’t ask me about it…2009 is when I first went to CKB, 2010 is
when I moved over, and I established myself in Auckland to train at
CKB. CKB made me into the fighter that I am today. They’ve trained
a lot of great fighters. Greats, even better than myself, but me as
an individual, CKB made me into the fighter that I am today. But
also, I was one of the main pillars who put CKB on the map on the
world stage. To take it to the next level, where people from all
over the world want to come train at CKB, and I’m proud of
that.”
The former Glory kickboxing title challenger thanked a number of
people who helped him over the years, not limited to coach Bareman
and fellow fighters Cameron
Rowston, Brogan
Anderson and kickboxer Doug Viney.
Above all, he knows exactly what he needs in his next camp, and
that is the personal attention of a coach who can help straighten
out any issues that come up as they happen.
“What I need for myself is [holds hands pensively] focused,
individual training. So, I’ve made the decision to leave CKB for my
own reasons, and yeah. I’ll leave it at that,” Adesanya
concluded.