Israel Adesanya admits he was warned by UFC President Dana White to ‘chill out’ before he made a huge mistake.
Since then, ‘The Last Stylebender’ has suffered the consequences and has admitted that White could have been right in hindsight.
Israel Adesanya Was Warned By Dana White Prior To Massive Mistake
Israel Adesanya is widely regarded as one of the best MMA fighters of the past decade.
‘The Last Stylebender’ is a two-time middleweight champion, as well as reigning the 185-pound division over three-and-a-half-years.
However, Adesanya’s fortunes have changed of late having lost his last three fights. In hindsight, the 35-year-old believes this could be down to fighting too much and not giving himself the proper rest and recovery period.
This is something that UFC President Dana White said to Adesanya back in 2023, warning him against making a quick turnaround from UFC 287 to headline UFC 293 just five months later.
During a recent episode of his own Young Man Ramble podcast, Adesanya sat down with coach Tim Welch and fellow former UFC champion Sean O’Malley, who has admitted to quitting smoking weed and social media ahead of his fight at UFC 316, to look back on the start of his recent downfall.
After defeating Alex Pereira in their highly-anticipated rematch in brutal fashion to win back the UFC Middleweight Title, Adesanya jumped straight back into the octagon just five months later to defend his belt against Sean Strickland.
Against all odds, Strickland upset Adesanya and beat him. Now, in hindsight, Adesanya has looked back and has realised he was potentially burnt out. This is something that Dana White had warned him about prior to taking the UFC 293 fight with Strickland.
“I was like, ‘Nah, I have to fight in Sydney. I haven’t fought on this side of the world in so long,’” Adesanya said.
“Dana was like, ‘Listen, kid, you’ve got enough money, just chill out for a while.’ … I was like, ‘Nah,’ and I went all stubborn. In hindsight I’m like, maybe Dana was right, maybe I should have just chilled,” Adesanya concluded.
Who Will Israel Adesanya’s Next Fight Be Against?
At 35-years-old and riding a three-fight losing streak, some MMA fans have called for Israel Adesanya to hand up his gloves for good and retire.
However, that doesn’t seem likely for ‘The Last Stylebender’. The Nigerian-New Zealander still seems to have fire in the belly and wants to complete.
That aforementioned defeat to Sean Strickland at UFC 293 was the first of three defeats following Adesanya’s memorable knockout over Alex Pereira at UFC 287.
He has also been defeated by the champion Dricus du Plessis, who is defending his UFC Middleweight Title against Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 319 this summer, before then losing his last fight to Nassourdine Imavov in February.
Given the fact he is a former champion and still a huge name, Adesanya won’t be short of options going forward. It remains to be see who the former two-time UFC middleweight king fights next, if he does indeed continue with his career.
At the end of the day, fighting is all he knows and loves. He has firmly dismissed any talk of retirement for the time being, meaning that Israel Adesanya’s next fight could be closer than we think.
Who stands on the opposite side of the cage to ‘The Last Stylebender’ remains to be seen. That being said, Adesanya has admitted to wanting the Strickland rematch, hoping to even the score following his defeat to the American two years ago.
That fight also makes total sense for Strickland, who has lost his last two fights back-to-back to Dricus du Plessis. Whoever Israel Adesanya’s next fight is against, it is sure to be a mammoth event with huge eyeballs on it.
