The year 2025 never ceases to surprise us in combat sports. The UFC presented their event in Saudi Arabia with the mission to further expand in the Middle East.
In the main event of Fight Night, Israel Adesanya faced Nassourdine Imavov in a good fight, but in the end the French fighter surprised him and won by TKO in the second round.
The critics were quick to comment, as this was Adesanya’s third straight loss, making it four defeats in his last five fights.
As a result, Michael Bisping lashed out at the fighter and advised him to retire from the octagon:
“The biggest conclusion is that it’s over. I don’t think Israel Adesanya’s days as a champion will be repeated, I say that with the utmost respect and I mean it. An original, incredible boxer, a sports legend, a future member of the Hall of Fame, but his time at the top is over,” were his harsh words.
Of course, the former fighter’s arguments are based on the fact that Israel no longer gives him his body for the tours and that he wears out quite easily.
Dricus Du Plessis comes to his defense
The rivalry between Adesanya and Dricus was quite brutal some time ago, in that fight Du Plessis took the win in a very complicated fight, but it was decided by the takedown he scored.
Despite that history, Dricus made it very clear that he had earned his respect, saying in an interview with Demetrious Johnson.
“For six years Izzy has been at the top of the rankings and has been the benchmark for what it takes to be the best in the world,” he continued, “I’ve said it before, the nerves for this fight were something I would say was the most nervous I’ve ever been for a fight, even more nervous than when I was fighting for the title itself. Simply because I know the pedigree of the man I’m fighting,” he would have said in the interview.
For his part, he decided to go into detail about his last fight, justifying his defeat on physical grounds: “You’re fighting a guy who can literally make you speechless with one mistake. A lot of guys you fight are really good. But you know, you can get away with certain things because you can take a punch or two and afford to make some mistakes. A guy like Izzy, if you miss at the wrong time, if your guard is off at the wrong time, he can leave you speechless with his accuracy and his sniper style,” the current 185-pound benchmark added.
And the fact is that nobody doubts Adensaya’s abilities, but it could be that his moment has passed, this bad run he’s been on doesn’t seem normal, he needs to give his career another twist or he’ll have the same results, retirement doesn’t seem to be on his mind as he’s already mentioned that he’ll return to the Octagon, we’ll see if he gets back up and puts a new face on his spectacular career.