Israel Adesanya plans to take an extended hiatus from MMA competition after he lost the UFC middleweight title to Sean Strickland.
Adesanya (24-3 MMA, 13-3 UFC) has been among the most active fighters on the roster over the past several years with five championship bouts over the past 20 months. He’s relished the chance to frequently grace the octagon, but felt it has started to catch up, and that was reflected in his massive upset loss to Strickland to drop the 185-pound belt at UFC 293 in September.
“Before this fight I was very like, ‘I know I’m on the back end of my career, so I want to do as many as I can because I know I’m done with this I’m going to miss it,'” Adesanya said on “The Rock” podcast. “I’m trying to do as much as I can. But after this fight, and again, 14 months and four fights, it’s not just the fights, it’s the training and everything. I had injuries going into the (Alex) Pereira fight, you’ve seen that. I don’t make any excuses. Strickland got me on the night because he was the better fighter on the night. He did his work well. He had a good team behind him.
“Now I’m going to take time to look after myself, and I’m not going to fight for a long time. I’m definitely not going to retire because I know me – I’m not leaving like that. I know me. But if I did, I’m fine. I don’t need to prove anything else. But I know what I can do and what I can change in my lifestyle to make my body adapt to where I need to be. I’m going to heal myself up. You won’t see me fight for a long time.”
Adesanya didn’t offer an exact timeline or potential opponents for his return. The 34-year-old felt now was the right time to step away, though.
After the title loss to Strickland, it was revealed Adesanya had been pulled over and charged with drink-driving just 18 days prior to UFC 293. He apologized for his poor decision-making, and vowed to improve himself going forward.
Adesanya said he’s embracing the chance to sit on the sidelines, especially if it gives the chance for his good friend Kamaru Usman to make a run at the middleweight belt. Usman will fight Khamzat Chimaev on 10 days’ notice as a replacement for Paulo Costa at UFC 294 next weekend in Abu Dhabi, and UFC CEO Dana White has said the winner will fight Strickland for the belt next.
He isn’t sure if the UFC made a call to have him fight Chimaev on short notice, but Adesanya said he wouldn’t have taken it, anyway.
“I’m sure they called my team up and my team said, ‘He’s not fighting right now,'” Adesanya said. “‘Cause that would’ve been cool.”
