Israel Adesanya’s head coach Eugene Bareman believes the former middleweight champion is preparing to get back in the octagon.
“The Last Stylebender” has lost three straight bouts, including back-to-back stoppages losses to Dricus du Plessis and, most recently at UFC Saudi Arabia in February, Nassourdine Imavov. Bareman says Adesanya has been back in the gym for several weeks.
“Izzy, right now, had, basically, the start of the year off [after the Imavov loss], and he has come back into training in the last
couple of months,” Bareman told Submission Radio. “He’s training regularly, so he’s training every day, twice a day. And he needs to prepare his mind and body for a potential fight at the end of this year, and so that’s what he’s doing.”
While Adesanya is back at City Kickboxing getting back into fighting shape, Bareman says that he’s not aware of any matchups the UFC is bringing his way, nor have they spoken about any specific opposition for his pupil.
“As far as opponents, I don’t know,” Bareman said. “Izzy’s got a couple more in him, just give him a fun fight. Give him something exciting. Give him something fun. I haven’t really thought about specific names, [we should] leave it to the fans, I guess.”
One name Adesanya has mentioned for his next opponent is fellow former champ Sean Strickland, who ended Adesanya’s second title reign with a shocking, yet lopsided decision win at UFC 293 in September 2023. Strickland is currently suspended by the Nevada Athletic Commission for storming the cage and attacking a fighter at a Tuff-N-Uff event in June.
If Strickland happens to be the guy the UFC offers Adesanya, Bareman believes the 36-year-old will welcome that with open arms.
“I think naturally as a fighter, Izzy wants to get that one back,” Bareman explained. “I think that’s just natural. He knows Sean got the better of him, you can’t take nothing away from Sean that night. But I think Izzy, or us as a team, feel that we can definitely put on a better performance against Strickland. But that was his night. Sean got the job done… and he held the title for a little bit, and that was his night.”
