Israel Adesanya’s first foray up to 205 didn’t go his way, but that doesn’t mean it was idea, at least not according to his coach.
Adesanya attempted to become the eighth fighter in UFC history to win titles in multiple divisions when he jumped up to 205 pounds in March 2021 to challenge Jan Blachowicz for the light heavyweight title. Unfortunately for Adesanya, things didn’t go his way — Blachowicz handed the middleweight champion his first professional loss and sent him back down to the 185-pound ranks.
However, just because it didn’t work out doesn’t mean that Adesanya or his team regret the decision.
“Absolutely not,” Adesanya’s head coach Eugene Bareman said Wednesday on The MMA Hour. “That was an opportunity that presented itself, and the only thing that I would regret now — and Israel would regret it too — is if we hadn’t taken that opportunity. We’d still be sitting here today thinking what could have been. What benefit did it have to be not taking the opportunity? A record that is undefeated? An undefeated record is irrelevant. In hindsight, Israel’s loss is the biggest advantage. This is a normal part of fighting.
“Israel bounced back far more than if he had just continued fighting Paulo Costa. It’s essentially what gave him the motivation and the strength to push him to the next level against Paulo Costa and against Marvin Vettori and now against Robert [Whittaker]. So nothing bad came out of that fight, in my opinion.”
While losses can be a difficult hurdle to clear for undefeated fighters, if only by introducing doubt where none may have existed before, Adesanya had no such issues. He won his bounce back fight against Marvin Vettori last June with ease, taking every round on all three judges’ scorecards.
In fact, Bareman feels that Adesanya’s loss to Blachowicz helped lift his game.
“People often talk about the aura of invincibility that exists between opponents and fighters. They sometimes need to be very honest with themselves and accept that they have weaknesses. There is no invincibility. It’s sometimes a crucial ingredient that [in order] is required to propel yourself to the next level. When you’re already talking about aggregating really small percentages, sometimes you need big things like that to push some more gains out of you. It was, I believe.
Adesanya will get another opportunity to show those gains on Saturday when he faces Whittaker in a middleweight title rematch at UFC 271. After that, Adesanya, who just signed a new multi-fight deal with the UFC this week, is expected to continue his middleweight title reign, likely against the winner of Jared Cannonier vs. Derek Brunson, which co-headlines UFC 271.
However, Bareman says eventually “The Last Stylebender” will want to take another run at a second title, and when he does, they will be better prepared this time around.
” We set goals, and they don’t disappear if you fail to achieve them,” Bareman stated. “How many instances in history has there been a goal and no one reached it the first time? I believe it’s still in Israel’s heart and mind that he wants to chase that next weight division up. The second time around, we’ll learn from our mistakes and apply them to the next attempt.
“The only thing I’d have done different from that fight, which we found out in hindsight wasn’t an option — I would have built Israel into a 205er, a proper 205er. We made the calculated assumption that Jan could be defeated at walking around middleweight. This was because we did not want to add muscle to reduce Israel to middleweight. Which we knew would happen.
“So the only thing I’d do different, and the only thing I’ve taken note for the future, is that if we went to 205 [again], we’d build our body into a 205 fighter as opposed to a middleweight taking on a 205er.”
This website uses cookies.