Remember April 8, 2023? That’s when Israel Adesandya defeated Alex Pereira to reclaim his Middleweight title at UFC 287. The Kiwi fighter was certainly in the seventh sky, but that didn’t last long. In just five months, he faced Sean Strickland on September 10, 2023, at UFC 293, with his title again on the line. And guess what, that turned out to be the darkest day for the fighter with the moniker ‘The Last Stylebender.’
A unanimous decision from the panel handed Adesanya his second defeat in less than a year. Moreover, he lost his gold once again, forcing him to go into an indefinite hiatus. It’s been 11 months since MMA fans last saw ‘The Last Stylebender’ inside the UFC octagon. And now he is set to return on August 18, 2024, at UFC 305.
However, before his much-anticipated comeback bout against Dricus du Plessis to reclaim his lost gold, a video went viral on the internet. It had Adesanya’s emotional moment after he lost to Strickland last year.
Soon after, the MMA world was stunned to see ‘The Last Stylebender’ in agony and pain. That certainly resulted in an eruption of heartwarming comments from the fans.
Fans Stunned Seeing Emotional Israel Adesanya After UFC 287 Loss
Despite fighting hard in the five rounds for five minutes each, ‘The Last Stylebender’ had to lose his bout and the middleweight championship to Strickland. Now, after 11 months, a video of Adesanya has resurfaced on the internet, melting hearts of MMA fans. Watching the never-seen-before side of the Kiwi fighter, one of the fight enthusiasts wrote, “What a guy.”
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Any sport brings out the inner emotion in any individual. And that’s the case similar to MMA. When Adesanya lost to Strickland, he was certainly in pain. However, his team has certainly faced a sense of dilemma as well. One of the fans pointed out the Kiwi fighter’s spirit to comfort his friends and family by writing, “seeing bro try comfort his family when he’s obviously in so much pain. Kind of shows the guy he is tbh.”
It was Dricus du Plessis who defeated Strickland at UFC 297 to win the Middleweight title. Now, he will face Adesanya in a middleweight title bout at UFC 305. Amid all this, an MMA enthusiast hoped to see Adesanya win the title again and face Strickland in a rematch later this year. His comment read, “Adesanya destroys DDP. Than we get adesanya Strickland 2 December LETS HOPE IT HAPPENS”
“Strickland is what people thought belal was,” a fan wrote, drawing the similarities between Strickland and Belal Muhammad. At UFC 304, the latter faced Leon Edwards for the Welterweight title. Just like he was rated lower than Edwards, even Strickland received a similar response before his bout against Adesanya at UFC 293.
It is noteworthy that Israel Adesanya’s loss against Sean Strickland last year was a tough pill to digest. However, that didn’t completely break ‘The Last Stylebender.’ He is returning with the hopes to regain his lost gold on August 18. Both his team and MMA fans will want to see the Kiwi become a champion again. Also, his recent Instagram post reflects his even better-jacked physique. So, it will be interesting to see if he can live up to these expectations again!
