This coming February, Israel Adesanya will fight in his first non-title fight in six years when he takes on Nassourdine Imavov in the UFC Saudi Arabia main event.
The February 1 main event announcement came as somewhat of a surprise, considering Israel Adesanya's reign as UFC middleweight champion and the fact that he remains one of the promotion's big stars.
Nevertheless, Nassourdine Imavov has earned his chance in a big-name fight after three impressive victories in a row, and with a win over 'The Last Stylebender' he could launch himself into the next middleweight title fights.
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Israel Adesanya's head coach is teasing 'drastic changes' in his fight camp
Following the Nigerian's loss to Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 305, fans were left unsure of Adesanya's next move as it was the first time he had suffered back-to-back losses in his MMA career.
But after the 35-year-old signed on the dotted line to fight 'The Russian Sniper', he's clearly not done yet when it comes to his quest back for the 185-pound title.
And with that, his head coach Eugene Bareman has teased that Adesanya's training regime will undergo some “drastic changes” due to his recent performances.
“There are a few things I'm doing very differently with Izzy for this fight. They are much more invasive than what I normally do,” Bareman told Combat TV.
“I like to take a very stable approach to things and kind of take if it's not broken then there's no need to fix it (approach). But based on previous performances, I thought we should actually shake things up a little bit,” he continued.
Fortunately for Bareman, the 35-year-old has responded well to the change in training regime and the team is hopeful that this will bring a return of top-class Adesanya.
“He looks really good and is responding very, very well to this slightly different approach, something he hasn't been used to over the last few camps… I'm looking for a very vintage performance from Israel and so far We are on the right track in that regard,” Bareman claimed.
Israel Adesanya reveals what his new training regimen is
Ahead of his fight against 'Stillknocks', Adesanya claimed it was the first time in his career that he was 'living like a real athlete', mentioning that he had changed his diet and other basic principles in his life.
However, the change that eluded Bareman has to do with his training and now the former middleweight champion has revealed what his new regimen looks like.
“Another (training session) bites the dust,” Adesanya said in a recent video on his YouTube channel.
“Just working, man, honestly, that's how it should be, but I like where I am right now. (We start) with Alactic capacity and MMA work. Then I wrestle for about an hour and a half and then strength train and that's it for today.
“Oh no, wait, then hyperbaric (therapy), then I'm done for the day,” he said.
Following his loss to Du Plessis, fans criticized Adesanya for his lack of wrestling ability after being submitted by the South African.
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