“What a glorious death”- Israel Adesanya reveals he was ready to die or kill at UFC 236
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Israel Adesanya revisits iconic fight against Kelvin Gastelum
Israel Adesanya had to go through war to be crowned the middleweight champion of the world. One of the most iconic fights in the history of the division and Adesanya can proudly say that he was part of it. The reigning middleweight champion revisits his iconic fight against Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 236 in 2019.
Israel Adesanya has been undefeated in his career in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Only four years into the promotion and he is already a future Hall-of-Famer and one of the best champions ever to grace the UFC octagon. However, this amazing story all took off for Nigerian descent on the 14th of April in 2019 when he took on Kelvin Gastelum for the interim middleweight belt. This fight set Izzy up for his future unification bout against Robert Whittaker which made him the undisputed middleweight king.
Izzy and Gastelum fought a war in the co-main event and went back and forth for five rounds. During the fight, Adesanya produced one of the greatest soundbites in the promotion’s history as he murmured the words, “I’m prepared to die” leading into the championship round against Gastelum. Three years later, Izzy sits down with BT Sport for an interview and revisits that iconic moment, and explains why he said those exact words during the fight.
Israel Adesanya was ready to die in front of the whole world at UFC 236
“If I’m prepared to die I’m prepared to kill. That’s the thing people don’t realize. But I really meant that at that moment. I literally signed my life away. I was like, ‘Yo. This is it. If this is how I die, what a glorious death. What a way to go out, in front of the whole world…in a crazy battle,'” said Adesanya talking in a recent BT Sport interview.
Throughout the fight, Adesanya had a great advantage as he got a couple of knockdowns heading into the final round of the fight. Adesanya talks about a thought in his head that asked him to relax in the final round as he knew the scorecards were in his favor. Izzy fought through that mentality and pushed himself to stay busy in the final round to secure him the interim middleweight belt.
Israel believes he did not know his mind and body were capable of pushing to the limits he went in the fight against Gastelum. The UFC 236 bout was truly eye-opening for the middleweight fighter and also his coach, Eugene, who witnessed the limits Izzy would go to during a fight. Where do you rate the Israel Adesanya vs Kelvin Gastelum fight among all the great title fights in the history of the promotion?
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Prateek Athanur
(2944 Articles Published)