Israel Adesanya puts loss into perspective

By Christopher Reive

One moment can change everything.

After 11 months out of the octagon, Israel Adesanya returned to the UFC on Sunday to challenge Dricus du Plessis for the middleweight title.

A belt Adesanya has held twice previously, the match-up was more about adding another name to his resume for the Nigerian-born Kiwi.

Instead, it was his South African counterpart adding to the tapestry of his career, claiming a fourth-round submission.

“This is not what I planned, this is not what I manifested, but I believe in the strangest things. Everything happens for a reason. I’ve had things in life not go my way, then later on it makes sense why it didn’t go my way at the time,” Adesanya said afterwards.

“It’s still my destiny. It’s not about the belt, it’s not about all those things. It’s just about doing what I want to do in this game to close the show, and I’ve still got a long way to go.”

It was a finish that came against the run of play, so to speak, with Adesanya ramping up the volume through the third and fourth rounds and landing some good, heavy shots against du Plessis.

But the South African, who was flanked on his way to the octagon by Springboks Eben Etzebeth and Siya Kolisi, has made a name for himself in the UFC as a hard athlete to put away and one who will always be in the fight.

It was a hook that caught Adesanya on the side of the head that opened the opportunity up. It might not have landed cleanly, but it forced Adesanya to circle away from the cage.

As the former champion did that, du Plessis chased him, peppering him with punches before ultimately finding the moment to drag Adesanya to the mat.

From there, he made a good adjustment to lock in a rear naked choke, giving Adesanya no choice but to tap out. It was the first submission loss in Adesanya’s mixed martial arts career, and saw him lose two fights in a row for the first time in his career.

While du Plessis suggested Adesanya might consider retirement after the fight, the two-time champion was quick to stamp that notion out.

“People will read too much into s**t. For me, who knows what happens? Life is fleeting. Who knows what happens; he might not come back if something happens to him. Any one of us in this room could go tomorrow so I try and take each fight, each moment as if it was my last.

“I’m not f***ing leaving until I want to leave.”

It put a dampener on what was a huge night for the New Zealand contingent in Perth, with Dan Hooker and Kai Kara-France claiming massive wins.

Hooker kicked things off with a split decision win over No 5-ranked lightweight Mateusz Gamrot to inch his way back into the title conversation, while Kara-France could find himself with a title shot next, following his first-round knockout win against former title challenger Steve Erceg.

“We f***ing did it. Two of the boys won in spectacular fashion” Adesanya said when asked if he had a message for fans in New Zealand.

“We’re still going to celebrate. I’m more happy with this fight than my last fight because I performed. I showcased myself, I felt great. I wasn’t hanging on the result, I just wanted to showcase myself and I felt like I did that tonight.”

It wasn’t so long ago that UFC fans were calling for Hooker to hang up his gloves.

Through the Covid-19 period, Hooker went on a five-fight run where he won just one fight. In March 2022, he looked to move down to featherweight to try to change things up, but got blasted away for another loss.

Two years on, Hooker has begun another charge towards a title challenge.

The 34-year-old claimed one of the biggest wins of his career when he got the better of Gamrot.

Hooker, who was ranked No 11 before the bout, took his moment, fending off Gamrot’s wrestling-heavy approach and finishing each round strong to get the nod 29-28 on two of the three judges’ scorecards, with the other scoring it 29-28 to the Pole.

The fight sees Hooker extend his winning streak to three fights – his last loss being that March 2022 defeat at the hands of Arnold Allen down at featherweight – and should see him enter the top five next week.

For Kara-France, he might well have separated himself from the pack chasing a flyweight title shot.

After UFC 305 in Perth on Sunday, it will be hard to deny the 31-year-old, with Kara-France needing less than a round to get the job done against Erceg.

Living up to his nickname “Don’t Blink”, Kara-France knocked Erceg out with about a minute left in the first round, after a tense and tactical opening.

Erceg started the fight defending well, with his head movement making Kara-France miss and he was getting his timing on the counters. Kara-France was the one leading the action for the most part, with most of what he was throwing targeting Erceg’s head.

He began to target the body after the three-minute mark, and almost immediately that opened the Australian’s defences upstairs.

It was an overhand left that started it for Kara-France. He whiffed on a right and followed it up by collecting Erceg on the button.

Kara-France followed it up and though Erceg got to his feet, Kara-France went after him. Another left hand planted Erceg again and that was all she wrote.

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission