- ‘I don’t want to share their names just yet,’ says the UFC middleweight champion
- ‘You have to take it one step at a time because if you miss a step you’ll fall a few steps back’
Israel Adesanya's rise to the top of the UFC has been so quick " and so dramatic " that you'd think his head would still be spinning.
That's simply not the case.
"I own this s***," was Adesanya's response, when asked by the Post how he was finding life as the UFC's middleweight champion. "It's just reps, like in the gym, and I just get better every single time."
It was just two years ago that the now 30-year-old "Last Stylebender" first emerged in the UFC from New Zealand, and he started to carve his way to a title belt that was delivered last time out with a second-round knockout of Australia's Robert "The Reaper" Whittaker (20-5) last October. That win took Adesanya's record in the sport to a clean 18-0 and as he climbed through the rankings he had already started to talk about a legacy, both in the sport and beyond.
"It's all gone according to plan," Adesanya says. "There are ups and downs, smiles and frowns. That's life. But you have to be able to go with the ebbs and flows. Since winning the title I'm 100 per cent better as a human being.
"I've tried to stay calm as a lot of things around me have blown up. You know there's a lot of money, too, and I'm not mad about that. I think it's important to just focus on yourself. For this fight I have just done what I have always done, which is be the best that I can be."
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Fight-wise, Adesanya's journey continues with his first title defence at UFC 248 in Las Vegas on Saturday, against 42-year-old Cuban Yoel "Soldier of God" Romero (13-4), ranked third but still seen by many to be a surprise match-up, given he's on a 1-3 run. It's all part of building that legacy, he says, and in Romero he sees a brawler who has been there and done that and whose scalp would further his own standing in the sport.
"There's a few more fighters like him I have in my mind, but I don't want to share their names just yet," Adesanya says. "My focus is on this fight and on Yoel Romero. You have to take it one step at a time because if you miss a step you'll fall a few steps back and I don't want to do that."
In terms of making the fight happen, UFC boss Dana White says Adesanya was insistent, despite the organisation's matchmakers blowing a fuse after they'd suggested the likes of third-ranked Paulo "The Eraser" Costa (12-0).
"The matchmakers didn't love it, but deep down inside when we're looking at what makes sense and what doesn't, my fan side takes over," White says. "As a fan I love that so much, that Israel Adesanya wants to do this. To think that this kid could have sat back and waited for the Costa fight and he was like 'No, I want Yoel Romero, I want him on my resume. It goes to show how much he respects Romero. And that he thinks he is so tough he needs to have him on his resume. You can't write that s***. That's as real as it gets."
Adesyana says he first plotted his journey back when he was cutting his teeth on the Chinese domestic kick-boxing and MMA circuits, biding his time as he waited for the UFC to call.
"There have been a lot of variables but it's all gone pretty much as I planned," he said. "I have adapted very well to it. I'm learning a lot about myself, too much to really explain to anyone, but I am learning a lot about myself every day. Fame, people, fans. And I am ready for anything"
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