Following the historic title bout at UFC 281 between Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira, there are questions as to what is next for the middleweight division, as well as whether Israel Adesanya will get the chance to regain the belt that he once defended six times in a row. At Madison Square Garden in November, […]
Following the historic title bout at UFC 281 between Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira, there are questions as to what is next for the middleweight division, as well as whether Israel Adesanya will get the chance to regain the belt that he once defended six times in a row.
At Madison Square Garden in November, Alex Pereira captured the 185-pound title from longtime foe Israel Adesanya, which happened to be their third time facing off in combat sports (first in MMA). Given that Adesanya has never beaten Pereira, there are many opinions on whether or not Adesanya should get the immediate chance to get revenge in the octagon.
In a recent interview with Submission Radio, City Kickboxing and Adesanya’s longtime coach Eugene Bareman vouches for an immediate rematch with Pereira, stating:
“At the end of the day, it can only go that way right, like you get a champion that does the sort of service that he’s done for the company, defended that many times that frequently… you have to give the man the rematch. He wants that rematch, there’s no other choice. What else could you do? No other fight makes sense.”
Bareman continues on this topic, reaffirming, “In the middleweight division, I still think that’s the biggest fight.”
Bareman on rumors of Khamzat Chimaev getting the next title shot over Israel Adesanya
Bareman also addressed recent rumors that the surging Khamzat Chimaev would be Alex Pereira’s first title defense.
“Khamzat’s a rising star but he’s literally done nothing at middleweight so he hasn’t established himself. We’re talking about two guys (Adesanya and Pereira) at the top of the food chain in terms of their status in combat sports. Khamzat is a rising star, he’s a massive rising star, but he’s not in the position of these two guys. This is the biggest fight and Khamzat has to beat people at middleweight to work his way up to even fighting one of these guys.”
One of the UFC’s budding stars, Khamzat “Borz” Chimaev, has quickly built immense momentum and has been rumored to get the next opportunity at the 185 title to face Alex Pereira. There are many opinions on this idea, however, Eugene Bareman has some thoughts to offer on why it is too early for Chimaev:
“Unless the politics and business of the sport take over, that’s still the biggest fight to make… and at the end of the day it’s not Alex’s choice to make you know, it will be Alex’s choice when he makes X amount of title defenses and does well for the company and all that, then it will be Alex’s choice.”
Clearly, Bareman strongly believes that a fourth match in the story of Adesanya-Pereira looms on the horizon, and thinks that the result will be different when they meet again in the octagon:
“We don’t have to extensively re-invent the wheel in my opinion, we have to just tweak a few things and we can turn that fight around…I just don’t anticipate we need to do a hell of a lot; I’ll just have to change a couple tactics…”
A fourth match between the two rivals will be one of the most anticipated events in combat sports if Adesanya were to be granted the immediate rematch. Do you think Israel should be given the rematch straight away, or should a fresh face like Chimaev be given the opportunity?
Watch the full interview with City Kickboxing’s Eugene Bareman here:
Do you want to see an immediate rematch between Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira?
Eugene Bareman, the coach of many top MMA stars including Israel Adesanya and Dan Hooker reportedly brought knives and machetes to the gym in order to combat complacency. Adesanya is just hours away from one of the highest-profile fights of his UFC career. The middleweight champion will defend his title against a familiar foe in […]
Eugene Bareman, the coach of many top MMA stars including Israel Adesanya and Dan Hooker reportedly brought knives and machetes to the gym in order to combat complacency.
Adesanya is just hours away from one of the highest-profile fights of his UFC career. The middleweight champion will defend his title against a familiar foe in Alex Pereira, a rival that famously knocked out ‘The Last Stylebener’ in one of their two meetings under the GLORY Kickboxing banner.
At City Kickboxing in Auckland, New Zealand, Bareman works as Adesanya’s head coach. He is the man tasked with preparing ‘Stylebender’ for his UFC 281 main event on Saturday night. Citing issues of complacency amongst some of the gym’s top fighters, Bareman, and other coaches decided to address the issue head-on.
“There’s a reason and we as a group of coaches felt that there was like a little bit of complacency amongst some of the senior guys,” Bareman told Combat TV. “They were a little bit too comfortable and we decided as a group of coaches to address that.”
Forget MMA, you’d be very hard-pressed to find a head coach in ANY SPORT who will speak this openly and honestly about his stars and without fear of any backlash.
Could have spoken to Coach Eugene Bareman all day. Was an honor to have him in studio to pick his brain for a bit. pic.twitter.com/Sbyxl6yYE8
Dan Hooker and Israel Adesanya Say Bareman Brought Knives to the Gym and Treated Them Like Toys
Following up on the comments from Bareman during his appearance on ‘The MMA Hour‘ with Ariel Helwani, Dan Hooker revealed that “legit” knives were pulled.
“Knives were pulled, legit knives. He would have had them on this chair, there were a number of moments. He’s always packing. We got a few big telling offs, he kicked the hornets nest a few times. It had to happen to wake everyone up, maybe we were being complacent. After that, we definitely reached a new level. He demanded more out of us.“
Appearing in the same episode, Israel Adesanya confirmed Dan Hooker’s comments, even detailing times when Bareman would bring a machete to the gym and show it off like a child with an expensive new toy.
“There was a period of two to three weeks, it’s like show and tell. He’d bring a new knife to the gym, not to intimidate, he’s just a f*cking weirdo. He’s one of those guys that goes to the bushes, hunting deer. He even brought a machete to the gym one day, a cool machete. It’s like a kid with a new toy, he makes jokes about it.”
City Kickboxing founder and head coach Eugene Bareman has branded the UFC’s push of Alex Pereira as “ridiculous” following the Brazilian’s UFC 276 victory. After an emphatic debut knockout of Andreas Michailidis and a hard-fough…
City Kickboxing founder and head coach Eugene Bareman has branded the UFC’s push of Alex Pereira as “ridiculous” following the Brazilian’s UFC 276 victory. After an emphatic debut knockout of Andreas Michailidis and a hard-fought decision victory over Bruno Silva, former Glory middleweight and light heavyweight kickboxing champion Pereira received a not-too-shabby elevation up the…
Israel Adesanya’s head coach Eugene Bareman has shut down Joe Rogan’s in-fight assessment that the UFC champion broke his hand at UFC 271. Adesanya earned a unanimous decision win over former champion Robert Whittaker in the UFC 271 main event. He utilized an efficient striking attack to out-pace Whittaker, especially in the later rounds. Eyebrows…
Israel Adesanya’s head coach Eugene Bareman has shut down Joe Rogan’s in-fight assessment that the UFC champion broke his hand at UFC 271.
Adesanya earned a unanimous decision win over former champion Robert Whittaker in the UFC 271 main event. He utilized an efficient striking attack to out-pace Whittaker, especially in the later rounds.
Eyebrows were raised when Rogan texted play-by-play commentator Jon Anik in the middle of the broadcast that he thought Adesanya had broken his right hand. Adesanya appeared to curl his right hand and not be as active with it as the fight went on.
“No, that’s more to do with something that happened in Rounds 2 through 4, trying to get that right-hand side going,” Bareman said. “But for whatever reason, Robert was making Israel a little anxious to throw not just the right hand but the right side in terms of the leg going a little bit. [Israel] said not just the right side in terms of the upper body moving, but there was a block there that [Israel] tried to mitigate [his] way through each round. But for whatever reason, [he] wasn’t able to successfully get that right hand going the way we wanted to. So it wasn’t about a broken hand or anything, it was [mental].”
Rogan was absent from the commentary team due to an unknown conflict. It was originally reported by some outlets that it was due to a scheduling issue, but UFC President Dana White has since shut that theory down.
Adesanya has now successfully defended his title four times since knocking out Whittaker at UFC 243. He also challenged for the light heavyweight title against Jan Blachowicz at UFC 259 but fell short in a decision.
Bareman has clarified Adesanya’s health status with his hand and it sounds like the middleweight champion is still anticipating a return for some time this summer.
Who do you want to see Israel Adesanya fight next in 2022?
City Kickboxing head coach Eugene Bareman believes UFC Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya is being under-promoted by MMA’s leading organization. Adesanya has ruled over the 185lbers for over two years. Since dominantly dethroning Robert Whittaker at UFC 243 in Melbourne, “The Last Stylebender” has fought off the challenges of Yoel Romero, Paulo Costa, and Marvin Vettori. […]
Bareman: Adesanya Is “One Hundred Percent” Under-Promoted
Adesanya’s opening title defense of 2022 will come just three weeks after his African counterpart Francis Ngannou pushed through a heap of adversity to keep hold of his title at UFC 270. One of the main narratives heading into the opening pay-per-view of the year was a perceived under-appreciation and disrespect towards “The Predator.”
That sentiment has now been shared by the coach of Adesanya.
During a recent appearance on Submission Radio, Bareman, who also coaches the likes of Dan Hooker, Kai Kara-France, and Brad Riddell, was asked whether he thought the UFC’s promotion of the 185-pound king was lacking.
While the 42-year-old New Zealander was clearly hesitant to criticize the organization, he did suggest the sentiment was the “correct observation.”
“You are correct; a hundred percent correct. But I’m not, at the moment, willing to talk about this particular subject,” said Bareman. “At the moment, I’m sorry, boys. I can’t. It’s one hundred percent the correct observation. The correct observation – He’s not being nowhere near pushed the way he should. But there’s stuff that I can’t talk about regarding that. So, I’ll just leave it as a no comment. But your assumption is correct. They can (promote Adesanya more). At least I agree with that.” (h/t Sportskeeda)
With Ngannou standing firm on his demands and potentially leaving the UFC to explore free agency at the end of the year, it’s hard not to wonder whether Bareman’s comments are a sentiment shared by Adesanya himself, who is also likely to fight out his deal this year.
In New Zealand, a South Pacific nation of just over 5 million, rugby rules. For generations, its national team, the All Blacks, has dominated the sport and inspired fear into those of much larger nations. If you’ve ever seen the Haka, the traditional Maori war dance that the All Blacks perform before every game, it’s […]
In New Zealand, a South Pacific nation of just over 5 million, rugby rules. For generations, its national team, the All Blacks, has dominated the sport and inspired fear into those of much larger nations.
If you’ve ever seen the Haka, the traditional Maori war dance that the All Blacks perform before every game, it’s not hard to see why. It’s likely the sporting world’s most intimidating sight, which proud Kiwi and UFC featherweight Shane Young once even performed before a bewildered Dana White.
With such a sporting legacy and the blood of warriors flowing through their veins, it makes sense that New Zealand is now similarly punching above its weight in MMA, led of course by the exploits of Auckland-based gym, City Kickboxing.
Rugby fans claim theirs is “the game they play in heaven,” and in New Zealand, its players are treated like gods. The same, however, can’t be said for the country’s MMA fighters, according to the likes of Israel Adesanya, Dan Hooker, and their City Kickboxing coach Eugene Bareman.
In late September, Bareman announced that City Kickboxing is seriously considering relocating to the United States to escape New Zealand’s strict COVID-19 international travel quarantine measures, which have hampered its fighters’ ability to travel to UFC events abroad. Adesanya has already declared he’ll make the move to the US himself and has even uttered “You will never see me fight in New Zealand ever again.”
So how did it come to this; City Kickboxing, one of the region’s greatest sporting success stories, possibly skipping the country for greener pastures, perhaps never to return?
PHOTO: ESPN
City Kickboxing vs. The New Zealand Government
Never had New Zealand fight fans envisioned that City Kickboxing, a gym in the Auckland suburbs, could make such a profound impact on MMA, producing two UFC champions in Alexander Volkanovski and Adesanya. However, these accomplishments, achieved while proudly flying the New Zealand flag, largely seem lost on the nation’s government and some factions of the media.
Adesanya, Hooker, and Bareman contend that the New Zealand government has treated them unfairly—and it’s hard to deny their argument. The nation’s quarantine measures, which aim to maintain its near-zero levels of COVID-19, mandate that those few citizens allowed to leave the country must on return spend 14 days confined to a hotel room and at their own expense. Daily intake quotas for international arrivals mean opportunities to return to New Zealand are few and far between.
A number of sports teams, however, have been granted priority status—and this is the crux of City Kickboxing’s gripe with the government. The All Blacks and a host of their international rivals have, with little trouble, booked much-coveted hotel quarantine spots. So too cricket teams. Even the English netball team, who compete in a sport that’s like basketball without the dribbling or entertainment value, have been prioritized. But when it comes to New Zealand’s more globally recognized UFC athletes, they’ve been told to suck it up and wait in line like everyone else.
Eugene Bareman Lobbies For Equality With Mainstream Sports
Bareman argues that New Zealand’s quarantine system is flawed, favoring team sports over individual athletes like those from his gym. Israel Adesanya alone, he feels, is more famous globally than the All Blacks, and thereby satisfies the “national interest” criterion required for quarantine prioritization.
“The New Zealand public, for the most part, get behind us and love us, but the government not so much,” said Bareman in an interview with Submission Radio. “It’s gonna be a very sad day if I and the team have to end up leaving and basing ourselves overseas. It will be done with a very heavy heart.”
“We just want to be treated like some of these mainstream sports. The All Blacks can come and go when they want. The All Blacks are the exact same as us. They can make many arguments across the board that we are bigger than the All Blacks at the moment.”
PHOTO: NZ HERALD
The impact of New Zealand’s quarantine system on City Kickboxing has been profound, says Bareman, and he now sees no other option than to haul his entire operation onto more favorable shores.
“We’ve been operating under these circumstances for two years since coronavirus hit now and we’ve kept the ball going,” Bareman continued. “But as a rough estimate, we’ve probably had half the amount of fights we should’ve in the last two years.”
“Across the board, we’re operating at a rough estimate of 50%. We just can’t continue to do that. It seems to me that a move is pretty imminent.”
“Not only are CKB athletes representatives of a national team who wear the silver fern with pride, we are also a business, which provides jobs, supports numerous families and generates significant economic benefit to the country. Whether this be two huge stadium shows or providing some of the highest per capita viewership of UFC events in the world, or through event and hospitality venues, gyms and lounges across New Zealand being filled with people watching one of the countries most rapidly growing sports,” wrote City Kickboxing.
Adesanya Announces Move Abroad, Vents Frustration With NZ Government
The Nigerian-born Adesanya, who migrated to New Zealand with his family as a ten-year-old, has proudly represented his adopted country (and Nigeria) on MMA’s biggest global stage. But fed up with his government’s unfair treatment, “Stylebender” late last month announced that he’ll be relocating to the US, despite City Kickboxing yet to officially commit to the move.
Days earlier, Adesanya had aired his frustrations with New Zealand’s powers that be and vowed to never again compete on home soil.
“You will never see me fight in New Zealand ever again,” declared Adesanya in a video on his YouTube channel. “All that money, they can get it from somewhere else. Their rugbys, their crickets and all the others they’re giving exemptions to, but you will never ever see me fight on these shores [again].”
“I can definitely see where he (Adesanya) is coming from. He is speaking from the heart, he is upset about the situation,” Hooker said at the UFC 266 post-fight press conference.
Hooker even expressed his belief that there’s a vendetta against MMA in New Zealand, driven by both the media and government.
“I think the powers that be showed their true colours,” continued Hooker. “Sport New Zealand and the big wigs in the media back home in New Zealand have just kind of been playing nice with us because we have been getting so much attention for the country … and then they saw an opportunity to put a lid on us or put on us, and they showed their true colours of what they really wanted to do which was to stop MMA and the UFC getting massive in NZ.”
“But it’s a part of New Zealand culture, combat sports is a part of our DNA in New Zealand, and we are going to push through no matter what.”
Finding A New Home In The US
With Adesanya already committing to a move abroad and Hooker and Volkanovski expressing their willingness to do the same, it seems only a matter of time before we see the trio—and perhaps many of their City Kickboxing cohorts—fighting out of an American city.
Bareman says that when they do make the move, it will be with reluctance.
“City Kickboxing absolutely does not want to move over to America at all,” Bareman told New Zealand radio station Newstalk ZB. “That should be made pretty clear. Our hand is kind of getting forced if you like. Just getting let down by the system really.”
City Kickboxing’s highly likely move abroad will be a huge loss for New Zealand, but it’s absolutely the right one. Not only will its fighters be free of travel restrictions and lockdowns, but they’ll also avoid the almost day-long flight to get to a UFC event in, for example, Las Vegas. Not to mention having to adjust themselves to local time zones.
But hopefully, for the sake of MMA in New Zealand and Australia, City Kickboxing’s move overseas will be a temporary one, which Bareman hinted at when asked how long the gym will remain abroad.
“Until we can get in and out of our country, and not have to have these guys’ careers and earnings cut down, because of not being able to get in and out of the country,” Bareman told Submission Radio. “So I roughly estimate about a year … could be longer, but I roughly estimate about a year.”
Eugene Bareman, the coach of many top MMA stars including Israel Adesanya and Dan Hooker reportedly brought knives and machetes to the gym in order to combat complacency. Adesanya is just hours away from one of the highest-profile fights of his UFC career. The middleweight champion will defend his title against a familiar foe in […]
