UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya says a return to the light heavyweight division “will happen again later”, but not before he takes care of his duties in the middleweight arena with a bout against Aussie Robert Whittaker at UFC 271 today.
The much-anticipated rematch between the pair, who on many occasions have made no secret of their dislike towards each other, is just another hurdle Adesanya is patiently waiting to concur.
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The Nigerian-born Kiwi is the hot favourite to once again take care of Whittaker, who he famously conquered via second round knockout in 2019, but says he’s taking the cautious approach not to think too far ahead.
“I’m just practicing patience, I don’t want to blow my load too quickly, I’m chilling,” he told Wide World of Sports earlier in the week.
“I know the time will come… I will ride the waves. When it’s time to get it going, I will get going.”
In the aftermath of Adesanya’s 2019 defeat of Whittaker, much has been said on what went wrong for the Aussie.
Whittaker spoke to Main Event TV last week on the mental demons he faced during that week, in which he claimed he had an unpleasant experience.
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“At the time I wasn’t enjoying anything. I didn’t enjoy the lead-up to the fight. I didn’t enjoy fight week. I didn’t enjoy the media. I wasn’t enjoying myself day-to-day.”
While it may be true, Adesanya said those demons and issues mentally affect everyone.
“He can say whatever he wants, and maybe he felt that way,” Adesanya responded to WWOS.
“Skills paid the bills that night. It was my skill that paid the bills, not how he felt or if he was sad, or hurt.
“He had no idea what I was going through in my personal life leading up to that fight, he had no idea.
“That night skills paid the bills and on fight day [this week], skills will pay the bills.”
Should Adesanya repeat history at UFC 271, he plans to soak up his dominance of the middleweight division.
And despite losing to Jan Błachowicz in his light heavyweight debut last year, Adesanya won’t rule out once again going back to the 205lb arena.
“I have to take out Whittaker first, I’m focused solely on that,” he said.
“That side mission of going to 205 will happen again later on down the line.
“Right now I’m focused fully on dealing with my domain in the middleweight division, I’m going to rule this b—h again, and run laps around it again.”
The 32-year-old’s fight week this time around was extra special after announcing he signed a long-term deal with the UFC, which solidifies his place in the fight game as one of the highest-paid athletes.
“It hasn’t hit me yet,” Adesanya said of his new deal. “I know it’s a major, big deal, but I’m not too worried about it.
“It just hasn’t hit me, but it will hit me maybe after the fight. But it hasn’t hit me properly yet. I’m just enjoying myself and enjoying the ride.
“It’s about the fight [with Whittaker] right now.”
While he slowly comes to terms with what’s expected to be an ongoing giant pay each bout, Adesanya said securing the contract was a “lengthy process”.
“It was a lengthy process, and that’s why I only signed the bout agreement for the fight [with Whittaker] on Wednesday,” he said.
“This is fight week. It was a lengthy process because this is business at the end of the day, but we handle our business where our business is meant to be handled – behind the scenes.
“I don’t need the public or other fighters… I handle my business behind the scenes and I make sure I’m looked after.”
Adesanya spoke to Wide World of Sports on behalf of his work with major fight wear brand Engage, in which the UFC star is a part-owner.
“We’ve come up from the ground and built this from the ground up – look at where we are now,” he said.
“Looking at our new campaign, when I saw the extended version, I was like ‘man, this needs to be in the cinemas right before the movie starts’.”
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Adesanya spoke on a recent work with the community, where he surprised several families in Auckland by hand-delivering a number of purchased goods.
“I felt like Santa Claus that day,” he said.
“I just had a hard training session [that day], I was tired, but seeing the smiles on those peoples’ faces when I delivered what they had ordered, I had also given them extra goods, but it gave me extra energy.
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“I wasn’t too tired to do that, It gave me life as much as it did them.
“You almost forget sometimes who are you… and seeing their reactions when I drove into their house, they were excited. I like making people feel good.”