“I’m Prepared To Die”: When Israel Adesanya Was Wiling To Lay His Life Down Inside the UFC Octagon

Israel Adesanya has been in the UFC for only a short while. He made his debut in 2018 but he has been in some serious scrappers since then. One of his most brutal fights came at UFC 236 against Kelvin Gastelum.

He was almost teetering towards a TKO in the fourth round after absorbing a head kick from Gastelum. The previous rounds had also taken a toll with Adesanya sustaining a swollen lip and bruised cheek. However, Adesanya made it to the end of the round. That wasn’t the hard part though. The difficult part was getting back up for the final round. But ‘The Last Stylebender’ did that he was willing to risk death to beat his opponent.

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How Did Israel Adesanya Get to This?

The Adesanya vs Gastelum fight at UFC 259 was a surprisingly tough one for both opponents. ‘The Last Stylebender’ was hurt early in the first-round despite being the superior striker and fan favorite for the win.

He mounted a solid offense in the second and continued giving Gastelum a tough run in the third. The fought round kick to the head by Gastelum was a gut check that put a legit question on Adesanya’s ability to continue.

“I know why people break I know why people get wilted,” Adesanya told Ariel Helwani in a recent interview. “I’ve done it to many people before, I’ve done it to many men. So, I could see he was trying to do that to me, but he couldn’t, so he started to get discouraged.”

He told the famed MMA journalist he told himself in his mother tongue ‘Heart of a lion’ before he went in for the final round. Adesanya scored no less than three knockdowns in the final round. His will and grit overcame Gastelum and he secured the fight with a UD win.

“I knew I had it in me, but I never ever thought I’d have to use that. I never thought I’d have to get to that point,” said Adesanya in the Helwani interview.

‘The Last Stylebender’ will enter the Octagon at UFC 281 for his seventh UFC welterweight title defense at Madison Square Garden on Nov 12, 2022 against Alex Pereira.

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