Israel Adesanya has admitted his victory over Yoel Romero was the lowest point in his MMA career as fans began to "turn" on him.
'Style Bender' has become one of the most popular fighters on the UFC roster during his reign as middleweight champion. However Adesanya has come into criticism after failing to secure finishes in his last three defences against Marvin Vettori, Robert Whittaker and most recently Jarod Cannonier.
Fans have branded Adesanya's performances as "boring" and have even threatened to stop purchasing his pay-per-view fights, with his last finish coming against Paulo Costa in 2020. And the Nigerian star has revealed his performance against Costa came as a result of backlash from his victory over Romero as he looked to make a statement to his fans.
"The Romero thing, that was the worst," Adesanya explained when discussing his recent relationship with UFC fans on his YouTube channel. Just the narrative and the voices that were loud. Probably the minority but they're the loudest voices, the eat a** c**s. So that's why I went into the Costa fight just free like I'm going to show you what's up.
"After that fight with Romero I was like 'But I was fighting, he was just standing there! Why are you blaming me?' ... That was the first time I was kind of like 'Eugh,' the fans turned on me in a way. I was like wait, what, now they say I'm s***? Like, did you not watch the fight before that? The one before before that?
"And that's why in that Costa fight I had the chip on my shoulder and I was just like 'Watch this.' These last two fights, for me, f*** people, it's the expectation on myself, I didn't meet my expectations. But this next fight, I've been saying delayed gratification."
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Many experts inside the UFC have also hit out at Adesanya's style including former two-weight champion Henry Cejudo who has been disappointed with his performances. However the 33-year-old has continued to string together wins and is also now the second highest-paid fighter on the roster after signing a new deal earlier this year.
His next fight will be against rival Alex Pereira who is the only man to have knocked out Adesanya during one of their two prior kickboxing meetings. Adesanya has vowed revenge over his rival this time, explaining that Pereira's aggressive style could play into his hands.
“I’m really excited to have someone who finally, after the first round or the second round, they realise they can’t do s*** and just want to be defensive, I’m excited to have someone who’s going to attack me, who’s going to actually try and finish me,” he said. “And this is the story of this fight, because he’s done it before in the past in kickboxing, so for me it’s like, is he going to get knocked out or am I going to get knocked out?”
