Former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya may be ready to get back into the cage far sooner than fans were expecting.
“The Last Stylebender” reclaimed the middleweight belt when he knocked out his rival Alex Pereira at UFC 287, but his second reign as champion was cut short when the 34-year-old suffered an upset loss to Sean Strickland last September.
Adesanya indicated immediately after the Strickland fight that he intended to take a significant amount of time off, however, his head coach Eugene Bareman has revealed that the former champion is nearly ready to compete again.
“He’s back training, so he’s back in the swing of things,” Bareman told Combat TV. “We’re training just in case there’s an eventuality of a fight. We’re getting him fit. He’s getting ready to take up a potential date should someone come up. He’s basically finished his little hiatus and he’s ready to come back.”
Some fans have suggested that a matchup between Adesanya and recently-crowned champion Dricus Du Plessis could be a perfect main event for UFC 300, and based on Bareman’s update that fight seems like it could still be a possibility.
“We’ve been going for a good month and a half now, so he’s probably on the edge of starting to look like he’s starting to get back in shape. Couple more months, another month and a half, he’ll be flying. He’ll be back to kind of pre-hiatus kind of levels…He’s been making the most of his time off and he feels like he’s refreshed and ready to go.”
Du Plessis looked poised to challenge Adesanya for the middleweight belt before Strickland stepped in to score his upset victory, and the bad blood between the South African and “The Last Stylebender” would still make that fight a massive spectacle.
Another meeting with Pereira could also be an enticing option for Adesanya after “Poatan” captured the light heavyweight belt in his last outing, and that matchup could also easily slot in as the still-unknown main event for UFC 300.
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