Israel Adesanya was prepared to die during the final round his UFC 236 victory over Kelvin Gastelum in 2019.
Adesanya has become one of the most prominent names in the sport, and has recently signed a lucrative new UFC deal making him the second-highest paid fighter in the UFC. 'Style Bender' is the reigning middleweight champion and has made four consecutive defences of his crown since beating Robert Whittaker to claim the title.
The Nigerian star previously defeated Gastelum during a brutal war to set up his eventual title challenge against Whittaker later that year. Both Adesanya and Whittaker gave everything in the octagon during the fifth and final stanza which turned into a firefight until the final bell. Adesanya has now claimed he had consigned himself to a "glorious death" in the octagon when planning to make history.
"If I am prepared to die I am prepared to kill but I really meant that it in that moment," Adesanya said during an episode of What Went Down with BT Sport. "I signed my life away I was like 'this is it, if this is how I die what a glorious death and what a way to go out'. In front of the whole world in a crazy battle and I had some negative self-talk in that fight that I overcame.
"My head was like 'you have done enough now, you have hit him with the spinning back elbow, you have dropped him, it is okay you can relax now'. And I remember that voice in my head verbatim and I said to myself 'shut up I am busy'. So I went to work in that fifth round and I was like 'you are not going to beat me I am prepared to die'.
"I remember looking at him [Gastelum] and I said that phrase to him that I have said in other fights 'Abierto' as in 'heart of a lion'. I then said 'let's fight' and then we went at it and it was just history in the making. And that is one of those fights that is just incredible for me."
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Despite a close and tense final round, Adesanya prevailed by unanimous decision to give himself the perfect platform to capture the middleweight title. The Nigerian has since been very active defending his title twice against Yoel Romero and Paulo Costa. He later made an attempt to become the promotion's next double champion but was defeated when stepping up to light-heavyweight against Jan Blachowicz.
The 32-year-old has since made a return to winning ways with victory over Marin Vettori shortly afterwards before defending his belt once again in a rematch with Whittaker earlier this year. Adesanya will next face the challenge of Jarod Cannonier who will looking to cause a sizeable upset at UFC 276 on July 3.
