“Had to rally up to retain his belt”- Israel Adesanya admits Francis Ngannou inspires him to wrestle at UFC 271 against Robert Whittaker
Follow Us
Francis Ngannou(L) with Israel Adesanya(R)
Israel Adesanya is set to defend his status as undisputed UFC middleweight champion of the world on 12th February Saturday night at the Toyota Center, Houston against former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker.
They will be headlining the main event at UFC 271 with Adesanya making his fourth title defense and ahead of his much-awaited bout, the champ took off some time to be interviewed with Fox Sports Australia.
‘The Last Stylebender’ showed his respect and credited UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou saying that watching him get back and win from a losing position inspires him.
“No, to prove to myself and I even take inspiration from someone like Francis. Over the weekend. Down 2-0. Had to rally up the next three rounds to retain his belt and he did so with wrestling, something that’s no one’s ever seen before is because you know it’s really stupid. I think it’s idiotic because like people think ‘Okay, you’re a kickboxer, you’re a striker, you’re this and that’. If you think that’s all it takes to become a UFC world champion, how come all these boxers aren’t? How come all these kickboxers aren’t?“
He went on to say that he humbled himself to learn jiu-jitsu and wrestling and by learning and experiencing all the facets of the game he was to make it where he is.
Israel Adesanya calls the rivalry between him and Robert Whittaker special
Israel Adesanya in the same interview was asked if there was any difference between his rivalry with Robert Whittaker and his rivalry with Paulo Costa and Marvin Vettori to which he said that the conflict between him and ‘The Reaper’ is something special to be spoken for generations.
“Look, we’re just two guys who fight or love to fight. You know, what we’re doing is – because we’re in it right now. We have our head down but then later on in life, I’m sure when we look back at these times.”
“We’re living it right now but then five, ten years, and fifty years from now to look back on these times and yeah, it’ll be special to think about it. People will tell your kids kids, I mean yeah, it’s cool to think about it.“
He then went on to say that right now what matters is the fight ahead and their focus and commitment is on that.
Stay Updated!
Nimish Ganapathy
(135 Articles Published)