Israel Adesanya reveals his corner advised him against going for broke in fifth round of UFC title fight with Sean Strickland

Israel Adesanya has revealed that his corner advised him against going for broke in the fifth round of his UFC title fight with Sean Strickland.

UFC 293, which took place in September of last year, saw the then current champion Israel Adesanya (24-3 MMA) take on Sean Strickland (28-5 MMA) in a middleweight title bout.

In a major upset, Adesanya lost the belt via unanimous decision to ‘Tarzan’.

Israel Adesanya recently sat down with famed boxing coach Teddy Atlas, and discussed UFC 293 and his loss to Strickland:

“So, I got to a point in the fight right. Where I was at the end of the round, and I remember looking… I looked down, as I looked down, I saw driblets of blood and I was like ‘Okay damn, he got me with that jab.'”

Continuing ‘The Last Stylebender’ said:

“I never lost hope, I went back to the corner, I was like ‘Right.’ We go this round; we must go this round.’ So, I was- even like when I asked Eugene in the fifth round, like, ‘Is this the fifth round?’ And he said ‘Yeah’. I was like ‘Right,’ and I said, ‘Should I just- should I just go out there and go?'”

Eugene Bareman, his City Kickboxing Coach, urged Israel Adesanya to keep a level head in the cage.  But at no time did Adesanya give up or lose hope in his fight with Strickland.

Concluding, the 34-year-old shared (h/t MMANews):

“I wanted to, like, kind of was like ‘F**k it, let’s go. Like, if I die, I die, like, go out on your shield.”

The newly crowned Strickland is set to defend his middleweight title against Dricus Du Plessis (20-2 MMA) on Saturday, January 20th at UFC 297 which takes place at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

As for what’s next for Israel Adesanya, only time will tell, but to date there is no indication on when he’ll be returning to the Octagon.

Who would you like to see Adesanya get in the cage with next?

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