Israel Adesanya was unable to turn things around this past Saturday night in Riyadh.
The former two-time middleweight champion arrived in his first non-title fight since 2019 with the intention of proving that he is still an elite contender at 185-pounds.
Israel Adesanya came into his main event bout against France’s Nassourdine Imavov following back-to-back title fight losses to Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis, who will fight at UFC 312, having never previously lost consecutive fights during his MMA career but his losing streak was extended to three in his Octagon return.
Following his second-round knockout loss to the #5-ranked contender, there are already questions about what could possibly be next for ‘The Last Stylebender’ with retirement not being out of the question.
Whilst some fans have debated the stoppage of the fight which Adesanya himself protested, a member of the UFC roster has taken credit for the switch that has been flipped on his career.
Joaquin Buckley Says His Breakdown Of Israel Adesanya Contributed To His Drop In Form
Joaquin Buckley believes that the breakdown that he gave of Adesanya’s style has played a part in the former champion’s recent setbacks.
‘New Mansa’ was a guest on The Joe Rogan Experience in June last year where he explained where he thinks Adesanya is vulnerable because of his reliance on one of his strongest attributes.
“Izzy is able to be finished in certain positions that he put himself in because there’s a lot of things that he do because of his reach,” Buckley told the UFC commentator. “He leans back a lot to try to counter away from punches, right? But if you can find that angle and you can see the holes open in there because his body is there, his chin is available, you know, you can find that punch.”
Following Adesanya’s loss on Saturday night, Buckley shared the clip with the insinuation that his defeats at the hands of Du Plessis and Imavov produce clear links back to his prior comments.
“Once I gave my take on how to beat Izzy on JRE I feel like Buddy career has never been the same. Congrats to Nassourdine maybe we run it back in the future.”
Where does Israel Adesanya go next?
It’s hard to predict what could be next for Israel Adesanya following his third consecutive loss in the UFC’s middleweight division but he’s already made it clear that he isn’t going anywhere just yet.
A win over Imavov would have put him right back in the title picture and it’s not like the 35-year-old started the fight particularly bad either.
For now, it seems more likely that the former champ will step away from the title picture with the changes of his path crossing with the 185-pound gold for a third time looking out of sight for the moment.
His former opponent, Marvin Vettori, has already called him out for a trilogy clash having come up short in their two previous encounters.
Adesanya won’t be wanting to fall right down the pecking order but there are still a lot of suitable challenges for him at middleweight if he wishes to roll the dice once more.