Ranked UFC middleweight responds to Israel Adesanya's callout remark on Joe Rogan's podcast

After his UFC 305 main event defeat against Dricus du Plessis, Israel Adesanya appeared on the Joe Rogan MMA Show #164 and spoke about his potential next opponent. He said:

“There have already been a few callouts here and there. The guy who just won in France...Imavov said something, and I thought it would be a good fight... it would be fun. But again, what has he done? He beat Brendan Allen.”

Check out Israel Adesanya’s words below (1:55:27):

Nassourdine Imavov reacted to this on X.

“Much respect for not hiding @stylebender ! @ufc @mickmaynard2 knows my answer! Let’s have some fun!”

The fourth-ranked middleweight praised the former two-time UFC middleweight champion for not hiding from the callout and said he is ready to fight Adesanya.

The 28-year-old is currently on a three-fight winning streak. He last fought in September this year, winning by unanimous decision against Brenden Allen at UFC Fight Night in Paris.

Meanwhile, Adesanya lost two of his previous fights, both of which were for the middleweight title. In his last five fights, ‘The Last Stylebender’ won only two—one against the reigning light heavyweight champion, Alex Pereira, and the other against Jared Cannonier.

Dricus du Plessis mocks Israel Adesanya and Sean Strickland

Dricus du Plessis, the reigning middleweight champion, is known for his trash talk and breaking down his opponents. At the pre-fight conference for UFC 305, he made Adesanya cry, and he did the same with Sean Strickland ahead of UFC 297. He went on to defeat both of them.

Du Plessis recently reshared a post featuring a picture of him holding a cake with his photo along with Adesanya's and Strickland's crying photos from the conference.