Israel Adesanya believes he was ‘screwed’ out of a world title in career-defining fight

Originally posted on Bloody Elbow | By Kyle Dimond | Last updated Dec 28, 2025 4:59 PM ET

‘The Last Stylebender’ admitted that he still holds a grudge over one moment in his career.

Israel Adesanya has produced some stellar performances inside the Octagon since debuting with the UFC in February of 2018.

The former two-time middleweight champion brought a level of striking into MMA that instantly made him one of the sport’s most dangerous specialists.

While Adesanya has put his rivalry with Alex Pereira behind him, their clashes in both kickboxing and the UFC have been a pivotal part of their legacies.

However, things could have been very different if ‘The Last Stylebender’ had achieved a goal that he believes he was unfairly denied.

Israel Adesanya’s relationship with Glory soured after his middleweight title fight loss in 2017

At UFC 287, Israel Adesanya defeated Alex Pereira for the first time to finally record a win over his greatest rival.

Along with being the man who ended his first UFC middleweight title reign, ‘Poatan’ was the last man to beat Adesanya in kickboxing.

‘The Last Stylebender’ then signed to the leading MMA promotion the following year after parting ways with Glory, but it wasn’t his knockout loss to the Brazilian in 2017 where the bloom initially fell off the rose.

In a recent Q&A session at Bangtao in Thailand, Adesanya reflected on his second to last professional kickboxing bout where he lost a unanimous decision when challenging Jason Wilnis for the Glory middleweight title.

He strongly criticized this outcome as “crooked” and explained that while everyone will have had different experiences, his relationship with the promotion started well but declined over time.

“With Glory though, I just felt they screwed me out of a world title because they wanted the Dutch guy to win,” Adesanya stated. “So, yeah, that just made me really salty and you know me, I’m a petty guy, so I hold grudges.”

The 36-year-old may not have arrived in the UFC when he did, which resulted in a remarkable rise to the top of the sport, if he’d won the belt on that night in Los Angeles.

“Nah jokes, be nice Israel,” Adesanya said after initially criticizing the promotion. “It’s a great organization for kickboxing. I think they did a lot for kickboxers coming up. They did a lot for kickboxers, even myself. Put me on the map and I’m grateful.”

Israel Adesanya recalls sparring Rico Verhoeven when commenting on his potential UFC move

Another fighter who made his name in Glory could end up making his way to the UFC in the near future just like Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira did.

Derrick Lewis recently said that he was offered a fight with Rico Verhoeven at UFC 324 after the iconic kickboxing heavyweight champion vacated his title to pursue another goal.

During the Q&A, Adesanya recalled that he previously sparred with Verhoeven when being brought over to the US to help Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson prepare for Jon Jones.

“He might not remember. He was a heavyweight, I was a middleweight. I could touch him but it wasn’t really doing anything, he was just moving me around.”

Adesanya went on to say that he believes Verhoeven has been putting in the work ahead of a potential transition to MMA.

“Of course. He’s been training MMA for a while,” Adesanya said. “Just because some people kickbox and specialize in kickboxing doesn’t mean they’re not doing other disciplines as well. I think he’s been very well-versed in mixed martial arts so we’ll find out.”

This article first appeared on Bloody Elbow and was syndicated with permission.

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