Israel Adesanya might have saved his middleweight title if he had listened to Dana White! In UFC 293, Adesanya walked into the ring as the UFC middleweight champion. Going up against Sean Strickland, ‘The Last Stylebender’ was confident of his win. Unfortunately, after a strong performance from Strickland, the title changed hands. While this was not the outcome that Adesanya was hoping for, he could have avoided the heartbreak by listening to Dana White’s advice.
In a recent update on social media, Adesanya pointed out that the UFC head honcho had a weird proposal. Ahead of the UFC 293 fight, White asked Adesanya not to accept the fight with Strickland. The UFC head also pointed out that financially, ‘Izzy’ was doing well, so there was no need for him to stress and take the fight.
“Dana was like ‘Listen kid, you got enough money. Just chill out.’ I was like ‘nah’… in hindsight maybe Dana was right,” said Adesanya.
Israel Adesanya reveals Dana White tried to convince him not to fight at #UFC293 against Sean Strickland
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) May 30, 2025
“Dana was like ‘Listen kid, you got enough money. Just chill out.’
I was like ‘nah’… in hindsight maybe Dana was right.”
🎥 @stylebender #UFCpic.twitter.com/esU9L3SxwY
Well, Adesanya might have done well to listen to White. After this fight, ‘Izzy’ started to have a downfall. While he lost to Strickland, he followed it up with another brutal loss against Dricus Du Plessis. And that was not all. Fighting in February this year, Adesanya also got knocked out against Nassourdine Imavov. Meanwhile, going back to the Dricus Du Plessis fight, Adesanya recently revealed the real reason why he got emotional in the press conference.
Israel Adesanya Opens Up On Emotional UFC 305 Presser
Adesanya vs Dricus Du Plessis was one of the biggest fights of recent times. With the two feuding about who the ‘real’ African champion is, Adesanya ultimately got choked out by Du Plessis. Following the bout, things got emotional for ‘Izzy.’ During the press conference, he could be seen getting emotional. And while most of the fans thought it was Du Plessis who made him cry, Adesanya clarified the same on the ‘Pound4Pound’ podcast.
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“That one was different. People were like, ‘Ah, he made you cry’. He didn’t make me cry. Okay, I’ll tell you what it is. I was talking about my mom. I used to go to my mom’s job because she was studying to be a nurse. So, we’d go to the bank to clean at like 4am, get back home, get ready for school, and then go to school,” said Adesanya.
Thus, with things looking a bit down for Adesanya, it now remains to be seen whether he can make a comeback or not.
Also Read: UFC Fans Fear David Goggins Curse Could Haunt Israel Adesanya After Intense Training Session
