Ahead of his upcoming Octagon return this weekend in an undisputed UFC middleweight title fight against Brazilian challenger, Alex Pereira at UFC 281, undisputed champion, Israel Adesanya has been the subject of questioning from Tristar MMA head coach, Firas Zahabi – with the latter questioning the reasoning behind Adesanya’s well-documented issue with gynecomastia.
Taking main event honors at Madison Square Garden, Adesanya will attempt to earn his sixth successful defense of the undisputed middleweight title – as he draws prior kickboxing rival and former two-weight GLORY champion, Pereira.
Twice clashing with the Sao Paulo striker during their respective kickboxing careers, Israel Adesanya suffered a pair of losses to the former, including a thunderous, high-profile knockout loss to Pereira in a rematch in his native Brazil.
However, another subject which has constantly surrounded Israel Adesanya’s promotional tenure, is the supposed case of gynecomastia – most notable in his October 2020 fight against middleweight contender, Paulo Costa.
Firas Zahabi speculates the cause of Israel Adesanya’s gynecomastia
Weighing up the reasoning regarding Adesanya’s condition, the aforenoted, Zahabi failed to land on a definite factor, however, claimed the case was “very suspicious” to him.
“Guys, I find it incredibly strange,” Firas Zahabi said. “Like, for me, I’ve only ever seen – get’s get punched in the chest all the time, I’ve never seen a guy walk in a ring, walk out with an inflamed breast.”
“In my mind, there’s only one reason for this,” Zahabi explained. “There’s only one group that has this problem, there’s only one group. What other possibility could there be? People are putting pictures of him in his earlier years, he doesn’t have it, doesn’t have it, then all of a sudden, boom, he’s got it. And for me, I have no explanation guys. I have no idea. It’s very suspicious. Very suspicious to me.” (Transcribed by BJPENN.com)