Off the back of his third straight loss tonight, Israel Adesanya has yet to shut the door on a potential retirement from mixed martial arts, claiming he needs to “think about things” following his UFC Saudi Arabia knockout loss to the streaking, Nassourdine Imavov.
Adesanya, who entered tonight’s main event clash in the midst of a two-fight losing run for the first time in his mixed martial arts career, dating back to last summer.
And hoping to return to the winner’s enclosure tonight in Riyadh against the current number five ranked middleweight challenger, Imavov, City Kickboxing star, Adesanya was stopped with a stunning second round knockout by the former, inflicting his third straight loss.
Headlining UFC 305 back in August of last year, Adesanya dropped a fourth round face crank submission loss to bitter rival and current middleweight kingpin, Dricus du Plessis, following a massive upset unanimous decision shutout defeat to Sean Strickland the year prior.
Israel Adesanya weighing up retirement after UFC Saudi Arabia loss
And after his loss tonight to the surging, Imavov, former two-time champion, Israel Adesanya has been urged by some in the mixed martial arts community to weigh up a potential retirement from combat sports, however, he is yet to make his mind up on such a definitive decision as of yet.
” I don’t know,” Israel Adesanya told ESPN MMA when asked what was next for him after his UFC Saudi Arabia loss. “I’ll have to chill and then think about things. I’ll relax first for a little bit. Just help the teammates who have fights coming up and yeah, see what I want to do. I was gonna do that anyway, but you know now I’m forced to shout to Nassourdine (Imavov) for that.”
And himself racking up his fourth straight win, Russian-French contender, Imavov has staked his claim for a shot at the middleweight belt, which is up for grabs at UFC 312 between the above-mentioned, du Plessis and Strickland.
“I ask you the question, I ask you the question, 4 top 10, 2 top 5, 2 top 10, have only 1 name, 2 finishes, I think I still deserve the belt,” Nassourdine Imavov told Paul Felder during his post-fight interview following his win at UFC Saudi Arabia. “I ask you the question again, do I deserve the belt or not? Which is, the record speaks for itself.”
