Israel Adesanya expresses desire to fight in Australia again before retiring
Israel Adesanya seems to have developed a special connection with Australia. It was in Melbourne where 'The Last Stylebender' became a world champion at UFC 243 back in 2019. He did so by beating then-middleweight champion Robert Whittaker, who was competing in front of his hometown crowd.
In a recent tweet, Adesanya revealed he wants to fight in Australia once more before calling time on his professional career.
While he didn't provide a timeline as to when he may consider retiring, his talk about hanging up the gloves perhaps comes as a surprise, especially considering he's at the top of his game at the moment.
"I wanna fight in Aussie one more time before I call it quits."
I wanna fight in Aussie one more time before I call it quits.
Before Israel Adesanya fights in Australia again, he must defend his title in a rematch with New Zealand-born Australian Robert Whittaker at UFC 271 in February.
Adesanya knocked Whittaker out in the second round of their first fight and will be hoping to repeat that result when they run it back next month.
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Israel Adesanya reveals the mistake Robert Whittaker made heading into their first fight
Despite having beaten Whittaker once already, Israel Adesanya claims he is very motivated to put a worse beating on 'The Reaper' this time around. According to the reigning champ, Whittaker realizes he made the mistake of letting the Nigerian-New Zealander get into his head, but won't repeat the error this time.
Adesanya also claimed Whittaker will be supremely motivated to exact revenge against him in the rematch. He says that's what drives him to work harder in training. In a video uploaded to his YouTube channel, 'The Last Stylebender' said:
"He finally admitted that I was in his head and he was emotional... I was like, ‘Yeah, you finally admitted what I was saying this whole f***ing time.’ So that makes me take him seriously. He’s accepted that, so that makes me take him seriously that, okay, he’s got a point to prove, as well. He’s been training, he’s motivated. That gets me up in the morning to shut him up again worse than the first time. That’s what gets me motivated."
Catch the episode of Adesanya's UFC 271 Fight Camp below:
The fight is set to take place at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas on February 12.