Whatever Israel Adesanya decides to do next his coach at City Kickboxing, Eugene Bareman, says that the former UFC middleweight champion can be more than proud of his historic career.
Adesanya, once the owner of a 9-fight win streak inside the UFC cage, has now lost three of his past four following a TKO loss to Nassourdine Imavov in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia this past February, leading to questions about the 35-year-old fighter’s future in the sport.
But Bareman, who has guided Adesanya’s career all the way to UFC world title level, says that the decision as to whether he wants to continue his career rests solely with ‘Stylebender’ — and according to their recent conversations, he suggests that Adesanya will strap on the 4oz gloves on at least one more occasion.
“The one brief conversation that he had with me … he said, ‘Look, man, I think I’m going to fight again,’” Bareman told Submission Radio, as noted by MMA Fighting.
“So those are the conversations we’re having, like, ‘Yeah, I want to fight again. I want to fight again. I think I’m ready to fight again.’
He added: “It’s like we’re having conversations about whether he should fight again, or whether he feels like he should, or he has the feeling that he wants to, whether he has the hunger inside, and, that’s the conversations we’re having. So to be talking about, ‘Am I fighting this or that?’ No, you’ve got to bring it back a level.”
Adesanya, whose classic battle with Kelvin Gastelum was recenty confirmed as being a new addition to the UFC’s Hall of Fame, has defeated several huge names throughout his career, with his record showing high profile victories over the likes of Anderson Silva, Yoel Romero, Paulo Costa, Robert Whittaker and Jared Cannonier.
He is also the only fighter to hold a knockout win over the former two-division champion Alex Pereira in mixed martial arts.
“Age is not going to matter, mate,” Bareman concluded. “I couldn’t believe how many people that I was hearing were writing Volk off. So we have a very close friend friend of ours, and we look at his work ethic and that’s the example. That’s the bar. That’s where we got to go, and as he knows, that’s where he’s got to go.
“And that’s a heavy, heavy commitment to dedicate yourself as much as Volk does. It’s a heavy, heavy commitment for any fighter in their prime, let alone one that’s in the twilight of their career.”
