Israel Adesanya reveals how student's death led to coach Eugene Bareman almost quitting practice
Israel Adesanya and his coach Eugene Bareman have proved to be an affective partnership during Adesanya's rise to fame in the UFC. However, 'The Last Stylebender' recently explained that due to a student's death, Bareman was close to quitting the sport.
Bareman was awarded Coach of the Year at the World MMA Awards, which 'The Last Stylebender' collected on his behalf. While leaving the event, Adesanya spoke about the impact coaches have on fighters and shared a touching story about how Bareman nearly stopped training:
"Everyone knows about Willman (Willman Rodriguez Gomez), rest in peace to my man Willman Rodriguez. He died in Eugene's arms and Eugene was gonna like, quit the game."
Watch Adesanya speak about Bareman's tragic experience here (3:45):
Israel Adesanya continued to state that it was Eugene Bareman's coach who convinced him to continue in the sport. Adesanya explained that Bareman's fighters were going to compete anyway, so it made sense for the coach to continue looking after them:
"His (Bareman's) coach was the one that was like 'well these boys are still gonna fight, is there anyone else you can trust to look after them other than yourself?' And he was just like, boom lightbulb, paradigm shift."
“I didn’t really want anything to do with this sport.”
After UFC 243, City Kickboxing coach Eugene Bareman honored Willman Rodriguez Gomez, whose tragic passing in 2012 made him rethink his path (via @arielhelwani) https://t.co/DRlMnJcWrv
Willman Rodriguez Gomez died in a Tahiti hospital after getting knocked out early in his debut professional boxing bout. The 29-year-old fighter was transported to hospital shortly after the bout, but sadly passed away after he arrived.
Israel Adesanya has high praise for UFC newcomer Raul Rosas Jr. after UFC 282 victory
Israel Adesanya was impressed with what he saw from UFC newbie Raul Rosas Jr. at UFC 282. The youngest fighter on the UFC roster took on Jay Perrin on his organizational debut. The 18-year-old easily submitted Perrin inside the very first round.
This performance blew Adesanya away and the former UFC champion believes Rosas Jr. has a big future in the organization. 'The Last Stylebender' compared the young fighter to Khamzat Chimaev:
"He's like a mini Khamzat, the way he's fighting at the moment. He's reminding me of Khamzat. Wow. What a fight. Yeah, he's in the money, haha! Give him the money."
Watch Israel Adesanya speak about Raul Rosas Jr. here:
Chimaev quickly made a name for himself in the UFC after competing three times in 2020, taking on John Phillips and Rhys McKee in the same month. Raul Rosas Jr. is yet to mimic these antics, but the youngster certainly has similar hype to 'Borz'.