“They’re definitely gonna run it back.” The UFC middleweight champ gave his thoughts about the end of UFC 264 and Conor McGregor’s “freak accident” leg break.
Just because Israel Adesanya is a battle hardened kickboxing veteran and current UFC champion doesn’t mean he’s not gonna get a little queasy watching a horrible injury go down in the Octagon. The UFC middleweight king posted a video to his YouTube account recently, showing his reaction to Conor McGregor’s broken leg in the main event of UFC 264.
Adesanya gathered with some friends and training partners at the home of one of his City Kickboxing teammates to watch UFC 264, posting a video of his reactions to the major moments in the pay-per-view to his YouTube page. BT sport snatgged the key moments, surrounding Conor McGregor’s injury and uploaded them to Twitter.
“His foot’s broke, something’s up with his foot!”@stylebender reacting to that Conor McGregor injury and the trilogy…
Izzy with some of the sharpest eyes in the game!
x FreeStylebender#UFC264 pic.twitter.com/AWunjqbXJ8
— UFC on BT Sport (@btsportufc) July 12, 2021
“Yeah, that was a good fight,” Adesanya said after the event. “I like the way Conor opened up. This is one of the reasons I don’t jump for guillotines. Because if you just ain’t fulfill a guillotine, you’re on bottom. And that’s the problem. And it was tight. It was tight, but the cage was in the way. So, Dustin was able to stop and defend, by not letting him get his leg wrapped and put him in guard. And Dustin, f—k, the recovery! There was a point where he was on top and he was just throwing bombs. The pace was good; the pace he was throwing at. That was withering Conor. Credit to Conor as well, because from bottom he was throwing shots. Throwing them ‘bows, getting crazy.
“That was just a freak accident,” Adesanya added, speaking of McGregor’s injury. “Dustin reckons it was a check, Conor reckons it wasn’t. Yeah, crazy fight. Crazy fight. They definitely gonna do it again. They’re gonna run it back and we’re all gonna watch.”
Dana White has already indicated that he wants to see the fight re-booked, once McGregor has healed from injury. Speaking at the post-fight presser, the UFC president told media that he would be looking into the bout, after Poirier fights Oliveira for the lightweight title.
“It sucks, it’s brutal and it’s not the way you want to see fights end,” White told reporters (transcript via CBS Sports). “Dustin Poirier will fight for the title and when Conor is healed and ready to go, we’ll do the rematch.”
The ‘Last Stylebender’ is currently expected to rematch Robert Whittaker for the fourth defense of his UFC belt, having earned the title by defeating Whittaker via KO back in 2019. The ‘Reaper’ is currently on a three fight unbeaten streak, following that loss to Adesanya, with victories over Darren Till, Jared Cannonier, and Kelvin Gastelum. The bout, however, has not been made official, and no date or location for the potential event has been reported.