Israel Adesanya hasn’t retired. But he’s already decided how his retirement will go, and there’s no comeback in the plan. Speaking on his YouTube channel, the two-time UFC middleweight champion said that whenever he walks away from MMA, he intends to stay gone.
“I’ve seen it in this game. The accolades, the spotlight. When they get done, they may come out of retirement because they don’t know what to do with themselves,” Adesanya said. “I never want to be that guy, so once I’m done, I’m f*cking done.”
The timing explains a lot. Adesanya is 37, has more than 16 years of professional combat sports behind him, and is stuck in the worst stretch of his career with losses in his last four outings. Three of those defeats came against Joe Pyfer, Nassourdine Imavov and Dricus du Plessis, and MMA Fighting noted that all three finished him inside the distance. For a striker who built his legend on being untouchable, that’s a brutal trend line.
MMA Fighting framed his comments against a long list of stars who either stayed too long or never fully let go, naming Chuck Liddell, B.J. Penn, Conor McGregor and boxing’s Tyson Fury.
Adesanya admitted the itch for risk won’t vanish. He floated running with the bulls or entering the World Series of Poker, and he was refreshingly honest about his card skills. “See, my secret with poker is I don’t know what the f*ck I’m doing, which is my best weapon, I believe,” he said. He added that he loves the adrenaline.
He also opened up about what the belt cost him. Without naming the projects, Adesanya said he was offered roles in two really big movies during his title run and turned both down because he had title defenses to prepare for. Now another role may be on the table, with the producers telling him they can work around his schedule. He said he isn’t fighting four times a year anymore and would rather do something like twice a year.
Georges St-Pierre has been in his ear, too. Adesanya called the former two-division champ “like my Fairy Godmother,” someone who pops up in random places and offers perspective that few people are qualified to give. “So for me, when he tells me something, I listen. It holds weight,” Adesanya said. Those talks, plus the content he’s been filming, have given him reassurance that he’ll be fine after fighting and that he doesn’t need to be the guy who has to keep competing.
No next fight was mentioned. Adesanya said he’ll be traveling over the next few weeks before he lines up his next moves.
My take: this is the most clear-eyed I’ve heard Adesanya sound in a while, and the part that matters most is the life he’s building outside the cage. Fighters who come back usually come back because nothing else fills the hole. If Adesanya has a movie role, a camera crew and GSP texting him wisdom from airport lounges, he’s got a real shot at sticking to his word. The hard part is choosing the exit before a fifth straight stoppage chooses it for him.
