“I’m still the king. I’m still the greatest. Give it time. Just give it time”.
Perhaps ‘Smile’n’ Sam Alvey should have directed his comments about humility towards Israel Adesanya rather than Leon Edwards.
‘The Last Stylebender’ suffered the first loss of his MMA career at UFC 259, losing to Jan Blachowicz in a failed bid to capture the light heavyweight title and become a two-division champion. But Adesanya still maintains that he is the greatest fighter in the UFC, with or without the light heavyweight belt.
“I wasn’t trying to be humble. I’m just fuckin’ speaking my truth. Fuck humble. I’m not being humble,” Adesanya told ESPN’s Ariel Helwani in a recent interview (h/t Clyde Aidoo of MMA News). “This is just what it is and how I feel. This is truly how I feel. The whole post-fight press conference is truly how I feel.”
“Nah, I tell you how it is. And if that’s how you wanna take it, sure, take it. But I never humiliate or lessen myself just because I took a loss,” he added. “Fuck no. I’m still the king. I’m still the greatest. Give it time. Just give it time.”
Adesanya might have came up short in his light heavyweight debut but the 31-year-old is still considered by many to be one of the most accomplished fighters in the sport.
The reigning UFC middleweight champion is expected to return to 185 pounds to defend his title against a TBA opponent.