Israel Ades-gone-ya

It’s not a goodbye, it’s a see you later.

It has been a little over one month since Israel Adesanya lost his UFC middleweight title in a shocking unanimous decision upset to Sean Strickland at UFC 293 from inside Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia (watch highlights).

Besides being interviewed by his brother a few days after the loss, “The Last Stylebender” has been relatively quiet. That all changed on Friday, as he opened up about the defeat and revealed he will take a step back from combat sports to get healthy and not fight for an extended amount of time.

“Before this fight, I was very like, ‘I know I’m on the back end of my career, so I want to do as many as I can because I know once I’m done with this, I’m going to miss it,’” Adesanya said on “The Rock” podcast (watch HERE). “I’m trying to do as much as I can. But after this fight, and again, 14 months and four fights, it’s not just the fights, it’s the training and everything. I had injuries going into the [Alex] Pereira fight, you’ve seen that. I don’t make any excuses. Strickland got me on the night because he was the better fighter on the night. He did his work well. He had a good team behind him.”

“Now I’m going to take time to look after myself, and I’m not going to fight for a long time,” Adesanya continued. “I’m definitely not going to retire because I know me – I’m not leaving like that. I know me. But if I did, I’m fine. I don’t need to prove anything else. But I know what I can do and what I can change in my lifestyle to make my body adapt to where I need to be. I’m going to heal myself up. You won’t see me fight for a long time.”

Adesanya did not reveal an exact time frame for his return, but knowing how competitive the former champ is, it will be much sooner than what he is leading on.

“Last Stylebender” is 1-2 in his last three fights, and for the first time in several years there isn’t a clear path for him to a UFC title. Does he go with the grudge match against Dricus Du Plessis? Does he fight another contender to earn his way back to another title shot? Would he get an immediate rematch against Strickland if he wasn’t taking a break?

We really don’t know, but at least for now it seems combat sports will be without one of its biggest stars.

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