Israel Adesanya still has unfinished business in the UFC.
Just behind Anderson Silva as the greatest middleweight of all time, former UFC Champion Israel Adesanya has went without a win for a while. His last victory a picture-perfect KO of Alex Pereira in Apr. 2023, Adesanya since lost the title and dropped his last three fights in the Octagon.
Adesanya was finished by current champion Dricus du Plessis and Nassourdine Imavov in back-to-back outings, putting the fighter’s future into question.
On a much-needed break, it looks things are headed in the right direction with Adesanya telling his coach he wants to fight again.
Tim Welch says Israel Adesanya wants Sean Strickland rematch
Adesanya recently trained with a fellow UFC champion in Sean O’Malley as he prepares to rematch Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 316.
Along with O’Malley for the ride was his head coach Tim Welch, who apparently got some insight about who Adesanya wants for his comeback fight: #2 middleweight contender and former foe Sean Strickland.
“Another thing with Izzy, he was saying he’s kinda enjoying his life,” Welch said on his YouTube channel.
“Before, he was just taking all these back-to-back fights. If you look at some of the old pay-per-views, every other pay-per-view, he was the headliner of.
“He seemed like he was wanting that Strickland fight back,” Welch said of his conversations with Adesanya.
Adesanya’s career-worst losing skid all began with Sean Strickland at UFC 293 and he wants revenge.
Israel Adesanya wasn’t at 100% for Sean Strickland at UFC 293
It was five months after Adesanya’s title reclaim over Alex Pereira as ‘The Last Stylebender’ refused to take a break then. Adesanya was finally matched up with Strickland more than a year after they ran into each other at the UFC 276 press conference with the American talking all sorts of trash to the champion.
The mouthy Strickland backed up his words by nearly knocking out Adesanya in the opening round. Strickland went on to win the title by decision following a five-round shutout on the feet, pulling off the ultimate upset.
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Mentally and physically, many believed it to be an ‘off-night’ for the champion Adesanya.
“They said not excuses and stuff, but his knee was f**** up,” Welch said of Adesanya’s previous training camp for Strickland.
“He was just so burnt out. It was just a bad night where he didn’t show up.”
Strickland was Adesanya’s 5th title fight in 18 months, making him one of the most active champions in UFC history.
“He said GSP [Georges St-Pierre] gave him some good advice like don’t just take these fights. Make sure you’re hungry to take a fight, especially when you’re at this level and you have enough money.”
