Arguably, the moment Dricus Du Plessis took Israel Adesanya‘s back late in the fourth round of their UFC 305 encounter, the fight was over.
It took just seconds between Du Plessis jumping onto Adesanya and the Kiwi tapping out for the first time in his glittering UFC career.
What’s more, it meant Adesanya had now lost three of his last four fights, a worrying run that seemed almost unthinkable at the height of his middleweight title reign.
Israel ‘The Last Stylebender’ Adesanya who returned to the cage in Australia over the weekend was back for the first time since a loss to Sean Strickland a year ago facing Dricus ‘Stillknocks’ du Plessis who won the title from ‘Tarzan’ in January, and set his sights on Israel Adesanya as his first title challenger.
For the first four rounds, the two middleweights went back and forth. While Israel Adesanya had the edge on the feet, he couldn’t seem to figure out the champion’s odd style. In the fourth frame, Dricus du Plessis dragged down the former titleholder and scored a shocking submission win. With the loss, Adesanya had lost three of his last four fights.
However, the former champion doesn’t feel bad about his performance. Earlier today, Israel Adesanya discussed his UFC 305 defeat in a video uploaded to his YouTube channel. There, the former middleweight champion gave props to Dricus du Plessis, despite their heated rivalry entering the contest.
In the video, Israel Adesanya also shut down any talk of retirement. In fact, the former champion feels so good, that he could fight this weekend if he really wanted to. However, Adesanya also added that he’s not sure when he will return to the cage. While he still feels good despite his age and recent losses, the Nigerian-born fighter wants some time to reset and recover.
“I don’t know[when I will fight again] but enjoy me while I’m here man.” Israel Adesanya stated in the YouTube video, discussing his UFC 305 loss to Dricus du Plessis. “Enjoy me while I fight. I started watching the fight and I was literally like ‘f*ck, I could go again!’ haha. I could go again, I still feel good, I could fight this weekend.”
He continued, “But like, eh. We’ll see [when I fight again]. I just want to get back to the gym, get training again and we’ll reset. Regroup. Yeah, we’ll see [what happens next].”
