Former two-time Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya competes in his first non-title fight in six years this weekend (Sat., Feb. 1, 2025) in the main event of UFC Saudi Arabia against surging contender Nassourdine Imavov from inside Anb Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
“The Last Stylebender” is coming off his first submission loss (watch highlights) and is riding the first two-fight losing streak of his legendary career.
However, now that he can check off being submitted in a UFC fight, Adesanya can fight freely again with nothing bothering him.
“I’m trying new sh-t in the gym, and I’ll give you a little secret,” Adesanya told Sky Sport NZ. “There’s a certain mentality when you’re undefeated and killing everyone. And then when you’ve had one loss, another loss, and it’s in two different styles, you’re like, okay, at least the worst part is over in my head.
“Now I can just be like, ‘Who cares?’ I don’t care. I can enjoy this fight; it’s going to be fun,” Adesanya added. “The fun part of this fight is that I don’t think Imavov is going to say anything- he seems pretty cool and respectful. The fun part is going to be in the cage. He’s a stand-up guy, so the first one to shoot is a b—tch, nah, I’m joking. It’s going to be a fun fight; we’re going to box it up.”
The 35-year-old former champion is always one or two fights away from another crack at UFC gold, but for the first time in a while, he hasn’t focused on trying to get his title back.
Instead, he is solely focused on Imavov and will watch Dricuss Du Plessis fight Sean Strickland the week after in hopes of fighting the loser.