Alexander Volkanovski & Israel Adesanya ‘Weren’t Quite Skilled Enough’

Getty Israel Adesanya & Alexander Volkanovski

The reason Israel Adesanya and Alexander Volkanovski didn’t become simultaneous two-division UFC champions is that they weren’t “skilled enough” to topple a bigger champion, according to their coach Eugene Bareman.

Most recently, Volkanovski, the reigning 145-pound king, vied for Islam Makhachev’s 155-pound strap at UFC 284 last weekend. Although “The Great” put on an impressive performance — dropping Makhachev multiple times and ending the five-round contest on top of the Russian landing ground strikes — it wasn’t enough to claim gold. Makhachev earned his first title defense by unanimous decision.

For Adesanya, he battled then-light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz in 2021 at UFC 259 when he was ruling the middleweight division.

“The Last Stylebender” had his moments on the feet during the first three rounds, but Blachowicz used his size to control the fight on the canvas for the remaining two frames en route to a unanimous decision victory.

Bareman Said There Are ‘Weigh Divisions for a Reason,’ Adesanya & Volkanovski Weren’t ‘Skilled Enough’ to Beat the ‘Bigger, Stronger’ Men

Bareman, the lead man at City Kickboxing, spoke with Ariel Helwani on MMA Fighting’s “The MMA Hour” following Volkanovski’s defeat. And he pointed to size being the ultimate factor for why the two greats couldn’t etch their names in the history books as double champs.

“The obvious answer is there’s weight divisions for a reason,” Bareman said. “You’re never going to be able to get around that fact so you are always going to be fighting a bigger, stronger man. When you go up a weight division, it really comes down to have you got enough skill to offset the strength and weight advantage. That’s what it’s about. That was the same thing with Israel and it was the same thing with Volk.

“I would have to say, with the benefit of hindsight, that both those guys probably suffered from the same fate in terms of they just weren’t quite skilled enough to offset a size advantage if you look at how both those fights panned out. That’s just how it is sometimes. People like Israel and Volk, they can win the title and then have two fights and retire, or they can just stay in their division and just rule their division forever, but that’s just not in their nature. They just don’t have it in them to be satisfied with where they are. They just always look for the bigger and bigger place, the place that can push them a little further, the place that can challenge them the most and that’s a unique characteristic. They’re the one percent of the one percent.

“They’re not the champions that are just going to stay there and be satisfied. They’re going to take the biggest fights. Who’s the biggest fight? You guys say Pereira’s the biggest fight, we’re taking Pereira. You guys think Jan’s the biggest fight, we’re taking Jan. They just have it inside them, that’s how you become great. That’s how you become legendary and they just have that inside them.”

Bareman Wants to See Volkanovski Back at Featherweight, Adesanya Will Try to Regain His Throne in April

During the interview, Bareman said that if he had it his way, The Great would return to 145 pounds next and unify the title against interim champion Yair Rodriguez.

Adesanya already has a date set for his next contest. The Last Stylebender will look to take his middleweight strap back from Alex Pereira, who dethroned Adesanya in November at UFC 281 via fifth-round TKO. They’ll headline UFC 287 opposite each other on April 8.