Israel Adesanya's coach says they want to record 6 title defenses in a single year
Israel Adesanya will put his middleweight strap on the line against Robert Whittaker in the UFC 271 headliner. Having walked through almost the entire division, many wonder what's next for 'Izzy' if he beats Whittaker.
Adesanya's coach Eugene Bareman previously stated that they would be targeting goals which are yet to be achieved. Bareman recently shed light on the unaccomplished goal they have set their eyes on.
According to Bareman, 'The Last Stylebender' will be targeting five or six title defenses in a single year to have a record championship run. Bareman recently told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour:
"To be honest what we're targeting this year, we wanna have a record championship run. We wanna try and do the most championship fights in a year. I'm not sure what's that been, you're [Helwani] probably better at that. But we're looking at, we would ultimately... for one of these upcoming years want to do like five or six defenses in one year. Like that's what we wanna do if we can make that possible."
Watch Ariel Helwani's appearance on The MMA Hour below:
Eugene Bareman dismisses the idea of a potential outing between Israel Adesanya and Jon Jones
Israel Adesanya and Jon Jones have traded multiple jabs over the past few years. They have posted multiple call outs to each other amidst talks of a potential super fight between the two.
While Adesanya deliberated on moving up to light heavyweight, Jones announced his decision to move up to heavyweight. When Izzy eventually made the move to 205 lbs, it was against Jan Blachowicz at UFC 259. Blachowicz dominantly outgrappled Adesanya to earn a decision victory, foiling his bid to become double champ.
Jones claimed he would ground and pound Adesanya "to death" in a potential clash at light heavyweight.
It’s been a really long time since I fought someone was such a low level of grappling. He would’ve got ground and pounded to death twitter.com/DeusWrecks/sta…
Israel Adesanya's coach Eugene Bareman recently dismissed the idea of a potential encounter with Jones. Asked about Jones' fight, Bareman told Ariel Helwani:
"We don't talk about people who don't even fight anymore. They're not part of the community anymore. They do their own thing with their life."