Kamaru Usman believes Israel Adesanya still has some juice left in the tank.
Adesanya suffered his fourth straight loss in the UFC Seattle main event on March 28. Despite a strong start, “The Last Stylebender” was stopped by Joe Pyfer via second-round TKO.
It’s been a rough fall from grace for the former two-time UFC Middleweight Champion, but Usman believes “Izzy” remains competitive. During an edition of the “Pound 4 Pound” podcast, “The Nigerian Nightmare” said it could boil down to Adesanya just needing to figure out how to turn the tide (via MMAFighting).
“I’m a fan of Israel’s, and as a spectator, as well, I see it from that perspective. But I also see it as a fighter who has been in a situation like this,” Usman said. “And God, it’s difficult, because he still has it. You can see it. He can still twitch you and land and chop you up, to where I think, when you’re in a situation like this, it’s almost impossible not to doubt yourself.
“When you’re on the way up, and you’re young, you’re just, ‘Next one, next one, next one.’ You’re consistently just going in there and doing it and being victorious. You don’t have time to doubt yourself. You have that chip on your shoulder. But when you’ve been to the top, and now you’re rolling back down, you start to doubt yourself while you’re rolling back down. Do I still have it? Can I still do it? Am I still that good? So, you have to find some way to anchor yourself and turn the boat around.”
Adesanya’s last victory was back in 2023 when he knocked out Alex Pereira to reclaim the UFC Middleweight Championship. Since then, he’s suffered losses to Sean Strickland, Dricus du Plessis, Nassourdine Imavov, and Pyfer.
Do you think Israel Adesanya will eventually get back in the win column? Sound off in the comments below.