Sharputdin Magomedov’s double-back fist KO of Armen Petrosyan might live in memory for quite some time but has he finally bitten off more than he can chew? It seems like after the spectacular KO in Abu Dhabi, the Dagestani fighter’s team has called out former middleweight champion Israel Adesanya to a fight.
Since the Russian cannot yet fight in the USA owing to his visa issues, his coach and team have to make the fans aware of when he fights next and where he does it. But right now, it’s not even about where the one-eyed Dagestani fights, it’s the ‘who’ they expect to propel his career to the next level.
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Magomedov’s team is already looking at a February 1 comeback in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. And it seems, they have landed on the ‘Last Stylebender’ in the process of looking for a “WOW” factor.
“We don’t know who the opponent will be, but the date is set…It may be Israel Adesanya.”
From the looks of it, if the fight is booked, it is being done for two reasons.
For Magomedov, this is a WWE-like scenario. The legend always goes on their back. If he beats Adesanya, Shara ‘Bullet‘ suddenly becomes a big game player. He can actually make claims on titles and that in itself is a scary prospect.
For Adesanya, it will be an opportunity to show the newer generation that the future begins when he says it begins. But now’s not the time for that. Right now…
Adesanya’s chilling!
Following his failure to capture the middleweight title from Dricus Du Plessis, Adesanya has been on a silent trip. He’s earned the lifestyle and enjoys it as much as he can while still staying in touch with the sport by streaming reaction videos of actual fights.
In a heartfelt gesture, he cheered on Francis Ngannou as he made his return to the cage in years to fight Rennan Fereira in the IPL. He was also streaming his reaction to the Max Holloway vs. Ilia Topuria fight.
There wasn’t even a lot of technical lecturing involved. Adesanya is just as much a fan of the sport as the rest of us are and he has no problem being just that, or in the special case of Ngannouu, being a good friend. After all, he was part of a trio with Ngannou and Kamaru Usman while all three of these African men held UFC titles and were called the African Kings.
The band might have split up but the love remains as evident from Adesanya’s reactions to Ngannou’s win.
“That was beautiful, ah I feel that man – that’s for Kobe”, Adesanya said with a tear in his eye.
Hopefully, the three reunite one more time, and with titles no less. Just one last run!
