"We don't necessarily care about the belt" - Israel Adesanya's coach reveals the most important goal for City Kickboxing
Israel Adesanya's coach Eugene Bareman has revealed what he feels is the most important goal for City Kickboxing, aside from title glory.
Bareman also made it clear that Adesanya has never backed down from a fight.
During his interview with Submission Radio, Bareman mentioned how the UFC had given Israel Adesanya an opportunity, one which if he had declined, would've been thrown away by the organization, as soon as it was brought to him.
"If at any point in Israel's run to the title, he turned around and said, 'No, I'm not gonna go through a fight. I've got an injury, I've got this. I need surgery, I need this.' Bad opportunity. The UFC would've taken that opportunity and thrown that away just as fast they brought it to us."
Israel Adesanya's coach added that he and his team never took an opportunity and only got closer and closer to the title. The City Kickboxing Team is still doing that whether it's Dan Hooker, Kai Kara France, Brad Riddell, or anybody else from the team.
Bareman added that his team holds the title to its highest prestige and while they don't necessarily care about the belt, CKB's goal is to prove that they're among the best fighters of their respective weight classes.
"What can I say? We never took any opportunity, we got to get ourselves closer and closer to the title. We're still not doing that. Whether it's Dan, Kai, Brad, Carlos, Shane, we're still not doing it. If you give us an opportunity to get a step closer to that title, then that's what we're gonna do. We hold that title and the highest, highest prestige. Why? We don't necessarily care about the belt, we care about proving that we are the best and baddest man on the planet, amongst men of that weight."
Israel Adesanya will aim to prove himself as the best middleweight on June 12
On June 12, at UFC 263, Israel Adesanya will aim to bounce back from his loss to Jan Blachowicz. 'The Last Stylebender' will aim to continue his unbeaten run at middleweight and once again beat Marvin Vettori in the rematch between the pair.
The two men will cross paths in the main event of the upcoming pay-per-view. Having already beaten Vettori once in 2018, Adesanya's goal will be the same heading into this bout.
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