Former UFC champion Israel Adesanya has come to terms with his current state in the sport.
After defending his UFC middleweight title five times, Adesanya (24-5 MMA, 13-5 UFC) finds himself having lost four of his past five fights.
“The Stylebender” suffered his third straight loss when he was knocked out by Nassourdine Imavov (16-4 MMA, 8-2 UFC) the UFC Fight Night 250 headliner last month in Saudi Arabia. He doesn’t see himself re-entering the title picture again – or he won’t focus on it, at least.
“Do I have a title shot in mind for the future? No,” Adesanya said on his YouTube channel. “When I got to the UFC, I never chased the belt. I stand on that. I never chased the belt. I expected it. I expected to be champion. I expected to get to this point that I wanted to get to because of the work that I put in and my belief in myself, my mindset. I knew with everything that I was going to do, I was going to get there. I expected it.
“After the (Dricus Du Plessis) fight, I remember just thinking, ‘Oh well, cool. It’ll come around. I don’t have to chase it. I know it’ll come around because I expect it.’ Now after this fight, I’m just kind of like, ‘You know what? I’m not expecting anything.’ I’m not expecting to be the champ again. If what I’ve done in this game doesn’t make me happy already, then what will? So I’m not expecting it. If it comes, I’ll take it with both hands, but I’m not expecting it. I’m kind of just chilling and living, training, doing well.”
Adesanya is unsure what’s next, but dismissed the notion that he’s a washed-up fighter.
“They call me washed, but how are you going to call me washed when you haven’t even been in laundry?” Adesanya said. “You haven’t even gotten dirty. What have you done?”
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