Adesanya Told To Consider Retirement, Fans Troll Danis Over His UFC Ambitions
In the latest MMA news, Chael Sonnen has called on Israel Adesanya to retire from the sport following his recent revelation that he will be taking an extended break from fighting.
Those comments were in reference to Adesanya’s loss against Sean Strickland as the latter secured a unanimous-decision win to pick up the UFC middleweight title at UFC 293.
Thereafter, Izzy made it clear that his focus was to not fight for belts but rather engage in bouts for ‘fun.’ Those revelations were then followed up by the statement that Izzy would be taking a break from the sport.
Adesanya’s Break
“Fourteen months, four fights – as a champion. Find any other champion aside from me and Volk [Alexander Volkanovski] who is as active as that. I don’t make any excuses – Strickland got me on the night because he was a better fighter on the night and he did his work well, had a good team behind him, but now I’m going to take time for myself and I’m not going to fight for a long time.
“I’m definitely not going to retire because I know me, but if I did, I’m fine. I don’t need to prove anything else, but I know what I can do and what I can change in my lifestyle to make my body adapt to where I need to be. I’m going to heal myself up and you won’t see me fight for a long time… then, when I come back, f***ing run for the hills,” Adesanya stated
In response, Jon Jones and Conor McGregor were supportive of Izzy’s desire to take some time off. After all, the fighter does not have a lot to prove in the sport having reached the pinnacle.
Therefore, moving forward, there is always going to be a question of how much motivation Adesanya would have left in the fight game. That is why Sonnen has questioned Adesanya’s desire to continue competing in the sport.
Sonnen On Adesanya
“Israel Adesanya comes out, says, ‘I’m gonna take some time off.’ We’ve never heard words spoke like that from Izzy,” Sonnen said. “The writing on the wall was there for this, and I feel he came to the right conclusion… When you start to take breaks, there aren’t a lot of times throughout history where you can find an athlete that did that, in any sport across the board, that came back and the comeback was meaningful.
I’m not predicting for you that he retires. I’m suggesting for you that he consider it, sure I am… Within that break, if he finds there’s other things to do with his time and his energy, I would support that,” Sonnen stated
Ultimately, Adesanya will have to choose what is best for the MMA fighter. But given the precedent set by other fighters who have taken a break, the news does not look good.
After all, McGregor’s form has never been the same following his long absence from the cage. And there is no getting away from that.
Meanwhile, MMA fans have reacted to Dillon Danis’ desire to join the UFC. Danis’ comments came in the aftermath of his disqualification against Logan Paul during his first ever boxing match.
The former had attempted to execute two MMA moves, a takedown and a guillotine choke, as the referee called the bout off. Thereafter, a brawl broke out in the ring between the respective camps.
Although that may have been the case, Danis was intent on making a return to MMA. The star pinpointed the fact that he was able to sell big events, having seen his social media following on X explode to a million since the build up. With that being said, Danis backed himself against the very best in MMA.
“Easy, I would beat Khabib. My jiu-jitsu’s too good… I’d fight all of them, I’d fight Jon Jones. Put me in the UFC, give me Islam Makhachev… I want a fight in the next 30 days, I’m ready to go,” Danis stated
Nevertheless, those comments did not resonate with MMA fans. This was on the basis that Danis’ output against Paul was a mere 16 punches.
While that must be factored in against the fact that Danis was making his boxing debut, the failure to go on the offensive would work against the fighter in MMA. And this was reflected in the comments that followed on social media.
Nobody is gonna take him serious anymore after that Logan Paul fight… 😭
— ✨Gizmo✨ (@gizmo_277) October 17, 2023
Dillon needs to focus maybe on getting a championship under his black belt. The guys never won a championship with black belt only brown belt. He has no chance with anybody in UFC…
— Creation✨ (@CreationNFT_eth) October 17, 2023
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