COMMENTARY: Is his era ending? Israel Adesanya is having the worst time of his career, is it a loss of motivation or a tough schedule?

It was a shocking night for most fans. The main event of the UFC 293 gala featured one of the most surprising title fights in UFC history, as Israel Adesanya lost his middleweight championship to the underrated Sean Strickland. Is his era coming to an end?

The king has fallen, long live the king!

A shock that made a huge splash in the world of mixed martial arts. Sydney, Australia saw one of the most surprising title fights in UFC history, after which many questions and speculations naturally arose.

Most of them, of course, concerned the new owner of the UFC middleweight champion belt, Sean Strickland. Already the announcement of his presence in the title fight caused a wave of ridicule and few people gave him a chance to succeed. But he took his opponent’s weapons with a precise performance and rightfully enjoyed well-deserved success.

Israel Adesanya is having the worst time of his sporting career. Back in early 2021, he was the number one in the P4P rankings across all weight classes and rightfully one of the biggest stars in the UFC.

After he cleared the middleweight division, he made his way to the upper echelons to fight for the opportunity to hold two championship belts for the organization at the same time. But then light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz took advantage of his weight advantage to defend his title.

The Stylebender thus returned to his category where he continued to destroy his challengers. At least until he had to face his nemesis in Alex Pereira. The latter managed to defeat Adesanya in their third fight together as well, taking away the title he held since 2019.

But Adesanya showed incredible mental resilience, knocking out his fated opponent in the rematch and taking back his belt. But at this weekend’s UFC 293, his fans watched another loss in incomprehension, hardly recognizing their hero.

Is his era ending or does he just need a rest?

Naturally, there were plenty of haters after the gala, already sending the former champion with Nigerian roots into fight retirement. Has Israel Adesanya lost his motivation and is his era coming to an end? Or could there be a logical reason for this?

It would seem that loss of motivation might be the real reason. Being a top middleweight for so many years in such a fast-paced spot is not easy from a physical or mental standpoint.

What more could Adesanya possibly accomplish at middleweight? Alex Pereira was the driving force last year, but when he finally beat him, and after such a performance at that, what more could you ask for?

A far more logical option, however, is the one pointed out by retired UFC fighter Daniel Cormier, who can inhabit the role of champion like few others.

Adesanya has had the most challenging schedule of any UFC champion

Adesanya has headlined an incredible eleven numbered UFC tournaments in the last five years. During that time, he has recorded a total of nine defenses, seven of which have been successful. As Cormier suggested, the former champion may just need a rest.

After all, you’ll have to admit it yourself: we’ve compared the current UFC champions and the amount of fights they’ve had since April 2019, when Israel Adesanya won his first UFC championship belt. And it is the Nigerian fighter who has sovereignly had the most fights and title bouts since then.

It will be interesting to see where the longtime ruler of the division’s steps lead. Dana White has already confirmed that a rematch with champion Strickland makes sense. A fight with the winner of Khamzat Chimaev vs. Paulo Costa could also be in play.

However, what will be most important will be for Adesanya to rest and gather mental strength in particular for another of his spectacular comebacks. He confirmed this at the post-tournament press conference, where he left saying that he will now go to the people he cares about.

Source: UFC, Twitter