Considered as one of the greatest middleweights of all time, Adesanya has the opportunity to add to his legacy tonight at UFC as he attempts to become the UFC Middleweight champion for the third time. After spending almost a year away from competitive fighting following his surprise defeat to Sean Strickland at UFC 293, many questioned whether he still has the desire and passion to compete at the highest level. There’s no doubt in the former champ’s mind about that – Adesanya said the time away from the octagon has allowed his mind and body to relax, and he’s happy to be back.
UFC 305 will be the twelfth time in just five years that Adesanya has headlined a pay-per-view event. Excluding his recent, brief hiatus, ‘The Last Stylebender’ has been perennial during his time spent both holding and chasing the middleweight strap. When asked by Oscar Willis of ‘The Mac Life’ if he had to make the fight ‘ugly’ in order to win, Dricus du Plessis said that he doesn’t need to but he will anyway. All that matters, according to the champion, is that he is going to win the fight.
The press conference took an unexpected turn after Adesanya said that he would parade the belt around different countries after he beats du Plessis, as he is a ‘child of the earth. The champion responded with ‘Are you taking the servants with you when you go back’ – a reference to Adesanya’s supposed privileged upbringing. The comments irked an emotional response from ‘The Last Stylebender’:
”You don’t even know anything about my story. You have no idea who the **** I am. My father and myself had to wake up at 4am and clean the banks by ourselves while my mum studied to be a nurse. You don’t know my ******* story. I will show you who you are Sunday so shut the **** up”.
Following the back and forth between the pair, Adesanya looked at his loved ones in the crowd and became teary as he explained that he fights for his family. It was a raw display of emotion from the former champion. ‘You shouldn’t fight with emotion’ is a cliche line you hear often as people believe it negatively impacts performance. Judging by this press conference, Adesanya will likely be fighting with a lot in the UFC 305 main event. Will it impact him? Well, the good news is that we don’t have long to wait to find out.
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