Former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya has not been seen since coughing up his 185-pound title to Sean Strickland at UFC 293 last September in Sydney. During his absence, Strickland went on to lose the belt to South African slugger Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 297 in Toronto, while other top-ranked middleweights like Robert Whittaker (No. 3) and Nassourdine Imavov (No. 4) racked up important knockout wins.
Just don’t forget that Adesanya is “still that dude.”
“At the moment what is fueling me is pretty much just showing myself off,” Adesanya, 35, told MMA Junkie. “I am an entertainer. I am a performer. I am a guy that goes in and gets the job done. When I don’t do that, it irks me. The last outing for me wasn’t really me, so I just want to go off, go out and show who I am. Not really to anyone. Just prove to myself that I am still that dude. And I know that I am. I trust me.”
Adesanya (24-3) will challenge Du Plessis for the middleweight strap atop the UFC 305 pay-per-view (PPV) event, recently made official for Sat., Aug. 17, 2024 at RAC Arena in Perth, Western Australia. Prior to that, “The Last Stylebender” will have to endure all the “stupid” obligations that precede the fight, like the UFC 305 press conference and subsequent weigh ins, among other responsibilities.
“I missed it – I definitely missed it,” Adesanya continued. “I f*cking missed it. I missed this sh*t. That’s really all I care about. Everything else is stupid. This is silly. The fight’s already sold but we have to go on this media sh*t. We have to do another press conference. I guess that’s to hype the fight up even more. Then the faceoff. Then the weigh-ins, then the faceoff. It’s like, it’s all f*cking stupid to me. I want to go in there and beat this c*nt up. So that’s the exciting thing for me, and I’m going to do that. But again, it’s just patience. And I’m a patient motherf*cker.”
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