Where in the world is Israel Adesanya?
The former middleweight champion was dethroned by 185-pound veteran Sean Strickland in the UFC 293 pay-per-view (PPV) main event earlier this month in Sydney. As of this writing, promotion CEO Dana White has yet to hear from “The Last Stylebender” regarding a potential return to action.
“I have not,” White told reporters when asked if he has spoken to Adesanya. “I know he’s in L.A. right now, working on some stuff, but no I haven’t talked to him. One of the things, we were talking about this this week too, that we always love about Israel, Israel was willing to fight anybody, anywhere, anytime. Love to turn around quickly and fight again and when he wants to fight, he’ll let us know.”
Adesanya, 34, has now dropped two of his last three fights and may need a break from the combat sports arena after competing eight times over the last three years. Perhaps that busy schedule contributed to his “garbage” performance at UFC 293.
“What it comes down to is being effective in a fight, being able to beat the other person in a fight,” former middleweight champion and current color commentator Michael Bisping said on YouTube. “This isn’t a ranking for style points, this isn’t a technique standpoint. This is the fighter’s ability and Sean clearly showed, four rounds to one, almost finished him in the first, it’s crazy, he was clearly the better fighter. And that’s not the conversation we’re having, because the reality is, you’re only as good as your last fight. Izzy’s last fight was garbage, he never showed up.”
No word yet on when or where Strickland will make his first middleweight title defense.