Israel Adesanya is back — three years ahead of schedule.
The former UFC middleweight champion is ready to make his return to combat sports after a “little hiatus” prompted by his upset loss to Sean Strickland last fall. In fact, his current training timeline could put “The Last Stylebender” back inside the Octagon for UFC 300 in April.
Hopefully the time away helped repair his “noodle arms.”
“He’s back training, so he’s back in the swing of things,” head coach Eugene Bareman told Combat TV. “Yeah look, we’re training just in case there’s an eventuality of a fight so we’re getting him fit and yeah, he’s getting ready to take up a potential date should one come up soon. He’s basically finished his little hiatus and he’s ready to come back. So just give us a date, give us an opponent, and we’ll show up, ready to go.”
UFC 300 was expected to become the biggest and brightest fight card of the year; however, the promotion has struggled to secure a five-round main event, thanks largely in part to Conor McGregor’s inability (or refusal?) to compete on April 13 in Las Vegas.
“We’ve been going for a good month-and-a-half now,” Bareman continued. “Couple more months, another month-and-a-half, he’ll be flying — back to pre-hiatus level. He’s looking good. It’s good to have him back in the gym. He has a renewed sort of energy and he’s looking after himself really well. He’s been making the most of his time off and he feels refreshed and ready to go.”
The most logical opponent would be newly-crowned middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis, who has an existing (and racially-charged) storyline with “The Last Stylebender.” Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear “Stillknocks” will be ready in time for UFC 300, following his hard-fought battle against Strickland at UFC 297 last month in Toronto.
For the current UFC 300 fight card and PPV lineup click here.