Former two-time middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya has distinct for his next outing ahead of his UFC Saudi Arabia return against Nassourdine Imavov in the new year — suggest he and Brazilian contender, Caio Borralho may meet for the championship in the near future.
Adesanya, a former two-time undisputed middleweight titleholder, was confirmed to headline the promotion’s sophomore event in Riyadh next year, booking a high-stakes, potential title-eliminator against surging Russian-French contender, Imavov on February 1.
Sidelined since he took on the incumbent, Dricus du Plessis for spoils back in August, City Kickboxing star, Adesanya dropped a fourth round face crank submission loss to the South African in the pair’s title grudge match at UFC 305.
Israel Adesanya plans future title fight with Caio Borralho next year
And reacting to the news of his fight with Imavov, Adesanya claimed a potential pairing with the aforenoted, Borralho seemed somewhat likely, however, he expects to fight him nevertheless in the future — particularly in a title matchup.
“They (the UFC) just offered it [the fight with Nassourdine Imavov] to me and I was like, yeah, sure,” Israel Adesanya said on his YouTube channel. What other names were in the mix? Nah, that was the only name that got offered, but Caio Borralho, he was, — you know, he was looking for a fight as well. And yeah, if they offered him, it would have been like, yeah, sweet. But then he responded when I posted or announced the fight.
“And I was like, bro, I already told you, when it’s you and me, it’ll be for the belt,” Israel Adesanya explained. “It’ll be for the throne. So I respect, I respect a guy who just wants to be strictly business. It’s like, I understand that. What do I call it? Goku spirit. It’s like, oh, you fight? How good are you? All right, bet. Let’s see. Yeah, so I respect that. But the Imavov fight came about and yeah, we’re here.”