Former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya shared the timeline for his retirement from competition.
Adesanya is set to take on reigning middleweight king Alex Pereira in the headlining bout of UFC 287 on Apr. 8 at the Miami-Dade Arena in the promotion’s grand return to Miami, Florida. He will enter the contest looking to get back in the winning column after dropping his last appearance to Pereira at UFC 281 in Nov. 2022. Company president Dana White indicated an immediate title rematch would be warranted, considering the dominant reign Adesanya had on the top.
This past Saturday, Adesanya hinted at his plans to step away from professional competition during an interaction with media backstage at UFC 284 in Perth, Australia.
“I’ve been in the UFC five years, right? If I’m being honest, I’m not gonna be here in five years,” Adesanya said via MMA Junkie. “I have other things to do in life.”
’Stylebender’ wants to hang up his gloves at the top of the game, in a similar vein as former UFC champions Georges St-Pierre and Khabib Nurmagomedov.
He continued, “I love this s*** and I’m f***ing great at it but I never attach myself to this and I’m gonna leave on top. So yeah, that’s the best way I feel like you should leave. But again, I’ve been here five years in the UFC, (snaps fingers) it went like that. We’ll see how long I’m here for but I don’t think it’s gonna be five years.”
Adesanya Wants To Settle the Score With Pereira
Pereira is the only middleweight to hold a win over Adesanya under the UFC banner. and is also the only man to have knocked out Adesanya in combat sports. He holds two wins over the Nigerian-born Kiwi in kickboxing, including a vicious left hook knockout and one win in mixed martial arts, a late fifth-round finish at UFC 281.
During a media scrum at UFC 284, Adesanya made it clear he’s targeting to settle the score with Pereira.
“I’ve never not been motivated to fight this guy, but for this one I’ve put the pressure on myself,” Adesanya said. “Like, f*** the belt, f*** everything else. I have to beat this guy, so that’s my motivation, just beating him. Like I said, they can say whatever they want, it’s 1-0 or 3-0, I don’t keep score, I settle them and I just need one and I’m going to get it done.”
Adesanya Promised To Do More in the Rematch
‘Stylebender’ insists he would come out firing and not make any unusual changes to his fighting style. He’s confident he could do more in the rematch to redeem his prior losses.
“Just keep the same energy because I’m always beating him until I’m not,” Adesanya said (transcribed by MMA Fighting). “So I’m just going to make sure I keep beating him the whole way through.”
“I go in there and I don’t overthink,” Adesanya later added. “I’m not gun shy. I go in there and I trade with people, especially with him as well, so expect me to do what I do. Like I said, I have to talk because you guys want me to talk, but say less and I’ll do more. I promise you I’ll do more in this fight.”
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Israel Adesanya Drops Hint on UFC Retirement