Israël Adesanya's UFC Saudi -Arabia defeat left a former middleweight title holder who doubtfully returns to the Glorie Championship.
Former UFC Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya has expanded the longest losing series of his combat sport career in UFC Saudi Arabia on Saturday. After an effective first round against Nassourdine Imavov, Imavov Adesanya dropped with two brutal round 2 bumps to get one of the greatest disturbances in recent middle weight history.
It was a shocking result for Adesanya, where Khabib Nurmagomedov was amazed in a response to social media. Before his UFC Saudi Arabia defeat, Adesanya suffered back-to-back title fight losing to Dricus du Persis and Sean Strickland, who will rematch the belt on UFC 312 next weekend.
Adesanya had the opportunity to possibly secure a new middleweight title shot with a solid version at UFC Saudi Arabia. But after his third consecutive loss, Adesanya is firmly on the outside of the title mix for the first time in years.
Fans called for Adesanya to retire after UFC Saudi Arabia, in a stunning turn of events after a long middleweight title.
After the astonishing defeat of Adesanya, a former UFC champion middleweight acknowledged that we may have seen the best of 'Stylebender' and that he is probably in the last days of his fighting career.
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
Michael Bisping shocked by the rapid decline of Israel Adesanya
During the UFC Saudi Arabia Post-Fight Show on ESPN, UFC Hall of Famer Michael Bisping gave a brutal honest response to the latest defeat of Adesanya.
“Nobody saw that coming,” said Bisping about the loss of Adesanya. “I'll tell you now. Yes, Imavov's entire team. They planned it. They saw it. They worked for it. They drilled it, okay? But nobody chose that tonight. Absolutely not. That is a huge upset, a huge upset.
“It doesn't matter how you start, it's how you're done and he ended with the face on the Octagon. I have enormous respect for the champion, he had a great career. Tonight it seems that unfortunately it is the beginning of the end of an incredible career. And this is a crazy thing to say, he has now lost four of his last five, what if you ever said that aloud a few years ago, people would think that you were absolutely crazy. “
Two years before this writing, Adesanya made revenge on Alex Pereira by turning him cold on UFC 287. He finally achieved a victory against Pereira after two kickboxing losses and one UFC loss at UFC 281.
The statements of Bisping have demonstrably some merit. After back-to-back losing to Georges ST-Pierre and Kelvin Gastelum, who came after a five-fighter-winning streak with a title win, Bisping hung up the gloves and went full-time to broadcast.
Has UFC Saudi Arabia marked the end of the greatness of Israel Adesanya?
Before losing in four of his last five fights, Adesanya was considered one of the best pound-for-pound hunters in the UFC after a decorated middleweight title line. He became the only two -time middleweight champion in the history of UFC after beating Pereira.
Adesanya beat the door of the middleweight title defense record of Anderson Silva for a stunning defeat on UFC 281. He successfully defended the Riem against top candidates such as Jared Cannonier, Paulo Costa and Robert Whittaker.
After another surprising setback in the Octagon, the UFC Future of Adesanya remains foggy. If the statements of Bisping are true, the best performance of Adesanya may be firmly behind him.
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