Israel
Adesanya has benefitted from a much-needed recharge since his
upset loss to Sean
Strickland at UFC 293 last September.
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“I’ve definitely evolved,” Adesanya told TMZ Sports. “And just
taking my time to heal myself: mind, body and spirit. Patience has
been my friend throughout this whole thing. I’m a very patient man,
so I’m just able to sit, watch and plot.”
When Adesanya relinquished the middleweight strap to Strickland, it
ranked as one of the biggest upsets in the sport’s history. Shortly
thereafter, he revealed that he
wouldn’t be fighting for “a long time.” In addition to mental
healing, Adesanya revealed that he has been focused on eating
healthier and getting the proper amount of sleep.
“Now I’m living like a proper athlete and it’s nice,” he said.
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Adesanya will return for the first time since that loss when he
challenges Dricus Du
Plessis for the middleweight title in the UFC 305
main event on Saturday at RAC Arena in Perth, Australia. The bout
has plenty of heat behind it due to Du Plessis’ controversial
statement regarding his status as “the African fighter in the
UFC.”
“It’s not personal. I just want him to take accountability for his
remarks,” Adesanya said. “… I’m also glad my friend [Abdul
Razak Alhassan] said it before his fight: ‘I respect Dricuss
but he’s a bitch for what he said.’ Dricus was saying, ‘I train in
Africa, I do this in Africa.’ People like myself and [Alhassan] are
forced to flee our own country because of better opportunity.
“He’ll never understand that because he lives behind the f—ing
gates of his privileged life in South Africa and he’s able to do
that there. It’s not like Francis [Ngannou] who had to cross the
desert to go overseas to go train. You can’t call him not a ‘real
African champion’ because he didn’t train in Africa ….
“Even without Francis being champion, without myself being
champion, without Kamaru [Usman] being champion — he would have
never been champion. We paved the way for him. He comes out there
and tries to take it all for himself. I wonder where he got that
from. What kind of mindset is that? …. You could have said it’s a
great honor to be out of the legends of African champoins that have
been in the UFC. He tries to take it all for himself. That’s a
colonist mindset. He doesn’t understand the error of his ways, but
I will show him the way.”
It’s clear that Adesanya has plenty of motivation to regain the
title, and he is confident that he has plenty left in the tank —
even at 35 years old.
“This is not a one time deal. I’m not done,” he said. “I know I can
prolong myself in this game and actually close this chapter in my
life in a big way. Finish strong. These next couple years I’m going
to enjoy and really soak everything in.”