WATCH: Israel Adesanya's real-time shocked reaction to Alexander Volkanovski getting knocked out by Ilia Topuria
Israel Adesanya was left shocked after watching Alexander Volkanovski get knocked out by Ilia Topuria.
Volkanovski entered the octagon this past weekend to defend his UFC featherweight championship against Topuria. In what was considered to be the latter's toughest test inside the octagon, he came out on top and won the fight via knockout in the second round.
The fight's result shocked many as it was expected that Volkanovski would reign supreme in his weight division again after being knocked out by Islam Makhachev in October in his second attempt at the lightweight championship.
The same was the notion of the former UFC middleweight champion, who was left stunned after seeing Volkanovski get knocked out. In a video uploaded on his YouTube channel, FREESTYLEBENDER, Adesanya was visibly stunned as he put his hands over his head when Topuria secured a stoppage.
Take a look at Israel Adesanya's reaction in the video below (9:26):
Was Israel Adesanya ready to fight at UFC 300?
There was a lot of speculation surrounding Israel Adesanya potentially returning for UFC 300. Despite the card's main event being recently announced, the former middleweight champion's coach, Eugene Bareman, had previously stated that they are ready to return if the promotion wants them to.
During an interview with TheMacLife, Bareman spoke about the possibility of Adesanya facing Dricus du Plessis at the historic pay-per-view. He revealed that 'The Last Stylebender' was already in camp preparing for the bout and said:
"I can say that we are ready to fight. Israel is ready to fight. He is in camp, has been in camp, and we answered that call, and we assessed it because Israel is coming off an injury... And we decided as a team that, yeah, let's get into camp... There is a strong possibility that this fight could happen on this date and let's act as if we are fighting on that date. So we are ready to go."
Catch Eugene Bareman's comments below (10:53):
While Adesanya will not return at UFC 300 after it was announced that the card will be headlined by Alex Pereira and Jamahal Hill, it remains to be seen when 'The Last Stylebender' returns to take on du Plessis for the UFC middleweight championship.