What's next for Israel Adesanya?

By Christopher Reive

Don’t think Israel Adesanya is going out anytime soon.

After 11 months out of the octagon, Adesanya returned to the UFC on Sunday only to be handed a second straight defeat for the first time in his career, going down to Dricus du Plessis for the middleweight title.

The 35-year-old has now lost three of his last four bouts going back to the UFC 281 loss to Alex Pereira with a career record sitting at 24-4.

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,” Adesanya added.

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.

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. It was arguably the biggest win of his career and saw the 34-year-old put together a three-fight winning streak for the first time since 2020. The fight earned both Hooker and Gamrot and extra $82,600 (US$50,000) in their paycheck as the bout took fight of the night honours.

Hooker came into the fight after a long injury layoff with a broken arm, and said he felt like he was finally piecing everything together after 10 years in the UFC. That showed, as his takedown defence was superb and his striking was crisp. Should he move up from his current spot at No 11 in the rankings and into the top five, he will be one of only two fighters in that group of title contenders coming off a win.

Kara-France followed Hooker’s win with a devastating comeback of his own, positioning himself as the clear favourite for the next flyweight title shot with a first-round knockout win against the last man to challenge for the belt, Australian Steve Erceg.

His first fight in more than a year, Kara-France looked like he never left as he put the hometown favourite away to earn himself an $82,600 performance of the night bonus.

“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.”

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