Israel Adesanya addresses retirement decision after knockout defeat
Israel Adesanya addresses retirement decision after knockout defeat
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Former two-time middleweight champion Israel Adesanya has revealed he will take some time away "to think about things" following another loss inside the cage. Adesanya was taking part in his first non-title fight since February 2019 against Nassourdine Imavov on Saturday night. 'The Last Stylebender' looked liked his old self in the first round as he successfully defended takedown attempts by his opponent as well as landing some good counters.
The Kiwi star was poked in the eye early on in the second round. Rather than taking some time to recover, Adesanya was quick to wave the fight back on before being brutally knocked out by a heavy right hand just 10 seconds later. It now means that the UFC icon has lost four of his last five fights. The 35-year-old was initially unsure of his future in the immediate aftermath of the defeat. “I’ll have to chill and then think about things,” Adesanya told ESPN. “I’ll relax first for a little bit, just help the teammates who have fights coming up, then see what I want to do. I was going to do that anyway but now I’m forced to – shout-out to Nassourdine for that.”.
In a video uploaded to his social media later on that night, Adesanya showed fans of himself watching the fight back, with the caption: “As real as it gets – UFC. Rolled the dice… snake eyes. I’ll be back, gone to get some milk.”. Reflecting on the loss, Adesanya pondered the choice he made in the moments before the knockout defeat. “He must be excited to beat a guy like me. I felt good," he said. "In round one, I was in control of everything. In hindsight, maybe I should have taken some time [after the eye-poke] – I just didn’t want him to rest because I knew he was tired, so I didn’t want him to rest. But again, [hindsight is] 20/20.”.
After the event in Riyadh, UFC boss Dana White revealed he was impressed by what he saw of the former champion, saying: "I thought Izzy looked incredible right up until he got caught. “He was picking him apart, busting him up on the outside. His takedown defence was incredible. He was chopping that calf kick the whole first round.He couldn’t have had a better first round and then he got caught.”.
