Israel Adesanya claims Coach Eugene Bareman's "ruthless" talk during UFC 281 fight camp was unnecessary - "If I was gonna change, I would've changed a long time ago"
Israel Adesanya was asked about the comments made by his City Kickboxing coach, Eugene Bareman, during their fight camp for his UFC 281 matchup against Alex Pereira. Bareman is known for being strict and having an aggressive training approach. The middleweight champion claimed, however, that he didn't need any extra motivation leading up to his sixth title defense.
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Speaking to Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, Israel Adesanya shared that he stayed back on his own after sparring to do extra work. He noted that his coach might have felt he needed an extra push, although he disagreed with how Bareman went about it:
"I remember the speech, it was quite ruthless... at the time, I was like what the f**k... The work was necessary, but the energy behind it... for me, it wasn't necessary, but I'm still glad it happened because even after the final work... I finally said, 'Thank you for what you did.' So I'm grateful for what he did for this camp because I guess we needed it."
Adesanya shared that he believes Bareman will make him the scapegoat since he is the biggest star in the camp. He added:
"It's not necessary, but it's his way of still ensuring that I am... With all the money and all the success that I have, if I was going to change, I would've changed a long time ago. A long time ago, but I don't because I am who I am so yeah, it wasn't necessary, but it was needed."
With Adesanya set to defend his title at UFC 281, we will soon find out if the extra intensity from his coach has paid off.
Watch Israel Adesanya's comments on Eugene Bareman below (starting at 2:53:25):
Eugene Bareman says Israel Adesanya was last to respond to changes in City Kickboxing camp
Israel Adesanya will be joined on the UFC 281 fight card by teammates Dan Hooker, Brad Riddell, and Carlos Ulberg. Their coach at City Kickboxing, Eugene Bareman, recently detailed how the fighters responded to changes made leading up to UFC 281.
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During his appearance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, Bareman stated:
"Dan responded first and made some immediate adjustments and found that extra push that we needed. Carlos responded next. Brad responded a couple weeks after that and the last to respond was Israel and that's probably got to do with just a bit of his stubbornness and the fact that maybe it takes him a little bit longer to understand what exactly is going on."
Adesanya later disagreed with Bareman's comments, noting that he didn't need any extra motivation going into this fight.
Watch Eugene Bareman's comments on the City Kickboxing fight camp below (starting at the 34:25 mark):