Israel Adesanya already has his subsequent project booked with a struggle towards Nassourdine Imavov in February, however he’s undoubtedly keeping track of Khamzat Chimaev as a future opponent.
That won’t have been a matchup on his radar till he noticed Chimaev decimate former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker again in October at UFC 308. On that night time, Chimaev scored an early takedown after which locked on a fight-ending face crank/rear-naked choke that really broke a number of of Whittaker’s tooth from the great stress utilized to his face.
“I used to be shocked on the means Khamzat ran via Rob,” Adesanya said on his YouTube channel. “That was loopy. That was like wow. That made me need to struggle him. I used to be like OK, shit, this man’s really actually, actually good.”
Following his win over Whittaker, Chimaev was declared the brand new No. 1 contender at 185 kilos. Nevertheless, he’s not booked for the subsequent title shot.
As a substitute, former champion Sean Strickland travels to Australia in February to problem reigning middleweight king Dricus du Plessis in a rematch after they first met in January 2024. As a lot as Chimaev appeared to leap the road along with his dominant win over Whittaker, Adesanya had a sense the UFC was nonetheless going to e book du Plessis towards Strickland.
“I knew they have been going to go along with this struggle as a result of I knew it was coming,” Adesanya mentioned. “They already organized it so I wasn’t like, ‘What?’”
So far as his personal struggle goes, Adesanya seems to be to bounce again from two straight losses for the primary time in his profession after he fell to du Plessis and Strickland in consecutive fights.
His return on the Feb. 1 UFC Struggle Evening card in Saudi Arabia can also be the primary time since 2018 that Adesanya isn’t competing on nor headlining a pay-per-view occasion. Which may look like a slight to some however Adesanya took no offense in any respect to this explicit reserving.
“I nonetheless receives a commission,” Adesanya mentioned. “There’s nonetheless a referee. There’s two of us in there. There’s nonetheless a crowd. So it’s not within the f*cking APEX or one thing. It doesn’t really feel any totally different. I feel individuals are making it out to be one thing how they might react to it however they’re not in my sneakers. They’re not in my shorts.
“Yeah it’s totally different like, ‘Oh my God it have to be consuming him alive to be on a Struggle Evening.’ I used to be like, it’s a Saudi Arabia Struggle Evening. I nonetheless receives a commission.”
That is additionally the primary non-title struggle for Adesanya since he grew to become an interim UFC champion again in 2019.
Within the 5 years since then, the 35-year-old Nigerian-born fighter has develop into one of many greatest stars within the UFC with title bouts throughout two divisions whereas remaining close to the highest of the pound-for-pound rankings through the years. He’s in a unique place now however that doesn’t essentially trouble him.
Adesanya is taking his struggle towards Imavov and each future opponent as a problem to proceed to point out off his enhancements, whereas hopefully including just a few extra accolades to his résumé alongside the best way.
In actual fact, Adesanya has one very particular objective in thoughts that has nothing to do with reclaiming his UFC title.
“As a result of I can,” Adesanya mentioned about why he’s nonetheless preventing. “And I’m actually, actually good at it. I virtually forgot how nice I used to be.
“I’ve achieved my desires on this recreation. I nonetheless have some extra desires to attain however the principle ones I’ve [achieved]. I’m gonna undoubtedly get a submission. That’s undoubtedly an enormous one. I don’t even care in regards to the belt. I need to get somebody’s f*cking ankle or neck.”
