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Instead, look for Israel Adesanya to make his next title defense at some point in September (or beyond).
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) color commentator Joe Rogan recently told his podcast listeners that Israel Adesanya and Paulo Costa would be coaching the return of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) as they build toward their middleweight title fight later this year.
I guess City Kickboxing Head Coach Eugene Bareman didn’t get the memo.
“It probably means that Joe Rogan saw some information that’s not good,” Bareman told Submission Radio. “Nothing’s coming over my desk in regards to Paulo Costa and Israel Adesanya fighting. Nothing about that. And I’ve also had nothing in regard to The Ultimate Fighter. For The Ultimate Fighter to happen, a lot more would have to be done. It would be a business decision. Like, how much would that help Israel make money?”
While Bareman acknowledges that Rogan is privy to more behind-the-scenes information than anyone at City Kickboxing, the decision to send “The Last Stylebender” and his team of coaches to a reality show environment would need Bareman’s final seal of approval.
To date, nothing has been discussed in terms of the combat sports reality show.
“If it added greatly to his backend, to his pay-per-view, than that might be worth giving it a go, even though the stories that we’ve heard from the Ultimate Fighter and stuff, is that it’s quite a hard time, it’s not the most enjoyable time,” Baseman continued. “That’s what I’d base my decision on if it came down to it. But it’s not. It’s not a discussion point at the moment because it needs to come over my desk, and nothing has come over my desk in regard to that.”
Saying it’s “not the most enjoyable time” is a nicer way of saying “it’s nuts.”