Israel Adesanya (24-5 MMA, 13-5 UFC) has had a quiet year in 2025. Aside from a Feb. 1 contest versus Nassourdine Imavov (17-4, 1 NC MMA, 9-2 UFC) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, “The Last Stylebender” hasn’t set foot in the arena.
Back on the first night of the year’s second month, Israel Adesanya went down in defeat to Imavov by way of second-round knockout 30 seconds into the period in that evening’s main event. No new fights are on the schedule for Israel Adesanya as the calendar shifts to 2026 this coming Thursday, making this ongoing hiatus from competition the longest of his tenure in the UFC.
Adesanya’s second-round knockout loss against Imavov extended his current losing streak to three fights in a row, and he recently opened up on when he could make a return to the fabled Octagon in the upcoming new year. He discussed this and other matters during a question-and-answer session at Bangtao Muay Thai and MMA.
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Israel Adesanya Changes Stance on Approach to Fighting in Q&A
In the wake of Adesanya’s defeat to Imavov last winter, those who approach him while in public have thought his MMA career was over. “The Last Stylebender,” used his time on the microphone during the audience Q&A at Bangtao to clear the air about any retirement rumors.
“Now, whenever I’m out and about in Auckland, every day, I always get ‘Oh, are you retired?'”, Israel Adesanya began, “and at first, I had to explain myself. ‘No, I’m just taking a break [from competition,] I’m doing other things.’ Now, I just go, ‘Yeah, I’m retired…’ until they see me on a poster.”
Don’t expect Israel Adesanya, currently No. 6 in the official UFC middleweight rankings and a former middleweight champion in both the UFC and GLORY Kickboxing, to pursue the UFC Middleweight Championship again once his hiatus from fighting ends.
“For me, it’s not about belts anymore,” he continued. “I’ve got two shiny belts at home. They look good, but I just want to fight. I just want to do things like I did on the way to the belt. I still fought really well when I was defending the belt, but I want to fight more freely. I want to try some risky [stuff] like I used to, like remember the Brad Tavares fight? I think [at] the end of the first round, I went for an Imanari Roll that failed.”
Adesanya on Alex Pereira
Later on in the Q&A session, an audience member referenced Israel Adesanya’s 2023 victory against Alex Pereira (13-3 MMA, 10-2 UFC) during a rematch in Miami. He discussed how important that contest was to him and his opinion of his former title opponent now.
“For me, it was never really about him,” he recalls, “It was always about me. I knew, technically, I’m the only one to hurt this man multiple times. I knew I could always touch him, and I’m so proud of what he’s doing now, two-time light heavyweight champ now. He’s back on top, about to fight [Jon] Jones at The White House. I hope he never loses! I hope he retires undefeated, because I always knew.”
From there, Israel Adesanya reiterated the point he made earlier in his answer to the audience member’s question.
“It’s not about other people, it’s about me,” he explained. “After he beat me at Madison Square Garden, people were like, ‘Oh, he’ll never want to fight him again.’ I was like, ‘Yo, Dana, run that back. I need that.’ I always knew I could do it.”
Where Does Israel Adesanya Go From Here?
At age 36, Israel Adesanya’s MMA career still has some juice left in it. As he mentioned in the question-and-answer session, any fights he competes in will be those contested under his wishes.
His career as a fighter has gotten to the point where he’s going into battle for the love of the sport. As the new year looms, the next chapter of the Israel Adesanya story will be one worth waiting to see.
No concrete date for Adesanya’s next appearance inside the cage has been set at the moment. When his next bout is scheduled, it’ll be a date you’ll surely want to mark on your 2026 calendar.
