Israel Adesanya knows what it means to suffer a devastating loss and then get right back in the cage against a dangerous opponent.
In Adesanya’s case, his longtime rival Alex Pereira followed him to the world of MMA and the two eventually clashed at UFC 281 when Adesanya was middleweight champion. Pereira already held two kickboxing victories—a contentious decision and a sensational comeback knockout—over Adesanya, and he made it three wins with another late finish to shock the world and capture UFC gold in just his eighth MMA fight.
Adesanya immediately avenged the loss at UFC 287, knocking “Poatan” out cold to finally score a win in their series. He considered his own situation while discussing what former two-division UFC champion Ilia Topuria should do in the wake of a devastating upset loss to Justin Gaethje at UFC White House. Topuria recently announced he is fit to fight again and is eyeing an immediate rematch, but Adesanya advises against it.
“Ilia said he’s just cleared to fight recently, so he could probably fight,” Adesanya said on the Precision podcast. “I think he should fight around the same time or right before. I think this year, December’s good. Ilia’s still a big name. I’m not going by what the internet says, I was trying to think, is it good for him to just wait and get an immediate [title shot]?
“After a beating like that—because again, I’ve been on the receiving end of one of them—you have to realize, OK, how can I come back from this? Because I know how it is as a fighter when you take an L and you feel like, ‘Man.’ Best way I can say is Pereira, I went back straight away because I already had an immediate rematch cause or whatever. I don’t know if Ilia has that, but I’d advise him not to take it with Justin, because I think getting another win before cracking the title shot again would be best for him.”
Topuria was a massive favorite to defeat Gaethje this past June, having won UFC titles at 155 and 145 pounds with highlight-reel knockouts over legends Charles Oliveira, Max Holloway, and Alexander Volkanovski. However, Topuria was soundly beaten by Gaethje, who overcame an early scare to pummel Topuria for the better part of four rounds, leaving “El Matador” unable to answer the bell for Round 5.
Even if Topuria is set on rematching Gaethje, Adesanya thinks the obvious choice to challenge Gaethje next is UFC 331 winner Arman Tsarukyan. The No. 1 lightweight contender delivered a Performance of the Night-winning knockout over Mauricio Ruffy this past Saturday and has now won 11 of his past 12 fights.
And as soon as Gaethje is ready, Adesanya wants to see that matchup locked in.
“I think Arman’s next,” Adesanya said. “He and Justin Gaethje has to be the next fight, who else? September, October, that could happen this year. [If] they’re already booked out, January, they could do that in January.”
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I’m still buzzing after that UFC 331 card, man. Just one feel-good moment after another (Alonzo Menifield’s thumb excluded). MMA is supposed to be fun and on nights like that, it is!
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