Israel Adesanya will take on Dricus Du Plessis to get his UFC middleweight championship. The stage is set in Perth, Australia which is where Izzy beat Whittaker to become the champion for the first time. However, with his previous loss against Sean Strickland, Whittaker is doubtful about Izzy’s performance.
In his last fight against Strickland at UFC 293, Israel Adesanya disappointed a lot of his fans. For five rounds, Adesanya didn’t show any intent and wasn’t fighting the way he normally takes on opponents. As a result, Strickland got a dominant victory via unanimous decision. It’s been almost a year since the fight, however, according to Whittaker, Izzy might not have mentally recovered from it.
Then he lost to Strickland, which… affects you. I’ve had that sort of fight. It makes you question yourself, question your ability. When your mind and body let you down, what else can you trust? You lose trust and faith in so many different things
Robert Whittaker via MMA Arcade Podcast
Robert Whittaker has shared the octagon twice with Adesanya and knows a lot about fighting skills and determination. Despite the doubts, the Aussie also mentioned that the ‘Last Stylebender’ can come back strong. One of the biggest examples of such was when Izzy lost to Alex Pereira at UFC 281. With all odds against him in the rematch, Adesanya knocked out the Brazilian to complete one of the biggest comebacks.
⚡️Robert Whittaker believes that losses like Israel Adesanya’s to Sean Strickland can mentally break a fighter.
“Then he [Israel Adesanya] lost to [Sean] Strickland, which… affects you. I’ve had that sort of fight. It makes you question yourself, question your ability. When… pic.twitter.com/kr1iVqMhCG
— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) August 12, 2024
On top of it, his upcoming fight with Dricus Du Plessis is much more than just a title fight. The bad blood between the fighters is pretty much visible and Izzy is confident to punish the champion. In order to achieve that he has worked very hard with his coaches.
Israel Adesanya’s coach didn’t like the fighter’s long gap after the Sean Strickland loss
During his time as the middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya was extremely active and was fighting twice a year. Adesanya never backed out of any challenges and faced everybody that the UFC threw at him. However, after his loss against Sean Strickland, he took a massive one-year gap which he had never done.
But during this time, Adesanya has worked on himself and put on some size which has increased his power too. His coach Eugene Bareman recently talked about Adesanya’s long hiatus. According to the popular MMA coach, he wasn’t in favor of the fighter taking such a long break.
Israel’s coming off a long break. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t advocate coming off a long breaks and having long breaks between fights but I think for him it’s been a benefit.
Eugene Bareman via UFC 305 embedded episode 1
Ahead of his grudge fight against Dricus Du Plessis, Adesanya has added a variety of new training methods including underwater training. On top of it, he has also added several new techniques and strikes to his arsenal. The Aussie fans are excited to see a glimpse of the old Adesanya with dynamic striking and incredible punching power.
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