How an ageing Israel Adesanya's 10-month break and new eating habits are reshaping his fight game ahead of UFC 305: "I'm not a spring chicken"

Israel Adesanya had a recent sitdown with TMZ, where he outlined some of the changes he's made following his MMA return from a 10-month hiatus. 'The Last Stylebender' is set to take on Dricus du Plessis at UFC 305 next Saturday, where he challenges the South African for the middleweight title.

However, for Adesanya, a former 185-pound champion himself, the fight is about more than reclaiming his belt. He and du Plessis have a rivalry that has reached personal depths, and for it, Adesanya is more motivated to win than he has ever been.

Among the changes he made to ensure his success at UFC 305 are dietary ones, which the ex-middleweight kingpin outlined to TMZ in an exclusive interview.

"I just turned 35 years old, so I understand that I'm not a spring chicken like a 24-four, 23-year old anymore, but yeah, now what I eat, I don't just eat Uber Eats every meal. I could do that when I was younger because it was easy and I didn't have to worry about my weight cause fast metabolism. But now I have my friend and my chef, Matt, make me meals, whole foods everyday."

Adesanya used to give so little importance to nutrition, in fact, that he would often forgo breakfast in his younger years. Fortunately, with age, he now takes his preparation more seriously.

"I actually have breakfast now, before I go train. Before I would just wake up, roll out of bed, f***ing chuck my sh*t in my bag, go to the gym, kick *ss, then go have breakfast around 11:30 AM, you know? But now I wake up and Matt's got my juice, my f***ing beta-alanine, my supplements, breakfast ready. So, I have that before I go train."

Check out Israel Adesanya detailing his change in nutrition (1:25):

How Adesanya performs at UFC 305 after the first hiatus of his career will be on many people's minds, especially given how lopsided a loss his last bout against was, against an opponent (Sean Strickland) he was expected to dominate, no less.

---

Israel Adesanya used to smoke in-between fights

At one point, Israel Adesanya developed breast tissue around his right nipple. This led to a spree of performance-enhancing drug accusations, but as it turns out, Adesanya claims that after getting himself medically checked, it was due to marijuana.

"The doctor from the UFC said, 'You just need to stop,' and I was like, I'm not stopping. I'm just going to slow down. I'm not, I've been smoking weed."

Check out Israel Adesanya talk about his marijuana usage (30:46):

Such habits are likely left behind now that the former champion is older and wiser and is appearing to take his preparation more seriously.