Israel Adesanya gets uncharacteristically nostalgic about UFC career: "One day, this will be gone"

Israel Adesanya recently reflected on his UFC career. His rise in combat sports has been rapid and impressive, and he is regarded as one of the best middleweights in MMA history.

Adesanya made his promotional debut against Rob Wilkinson at UFC 221 in February 2018. He won gold in April 2019, defeating Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 236 to win the interim middleweight title. At UFC 243, he defeated Robert Whittaker via knockout to capture the undisputed 185-pound title.

Adesanya's perfect run in the middleweight division came to an end when he lost to former rival Alex Pereira via TKO at UFC 281 before exacting his revenge at UFC 287. Five months later, Sean Strickland ended his second title run at UFC 293. After that, Adesanya decided to take an extended break from fighting.

Later this month, he is set to return to the octagon for the first time since losing his belt to Strickland last year. 'The Last Stylebender' will take on reigning champion Dricus du Plessis at UFC 305 in Perth, Australia.

Adesanya looked back on his UFC career in a recent interview with Fox Sports Australia prior to his matchup with du Plessis, saying:

''August 18th, the cultures will clash in a different way... I'm feeling calm, I'm feeling really good, just clocking back into work. I'm enjoying the little things like this, this is nice. Because before these would be sometimes a little bit tedious, because even this morning they woke me up at 6:30 and I was like, 'Cool, boom, let's go...' Look, one day, this will be gone.''

Check out Israel Adesanya's comments below (5:39):

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Dricus du Plessis previews Israel Adesanya fight at UFC 305

Dricus du Plessis is confident going into his middleweight title defense against Israel Adesanya at UFC 305.

In his title fight against Sean Strickland last year, Adesanya was dropped for the first time in his UFC career in the opening round. In a recent interview with Fox Sports Australia, du Plessis discussed the incident and said he would have KO'd the former champion if he landed the same shot as Strickland. 'Stillknocks' said:

"If I landed that shot that Sean Strickland landed, the fight was over right there 100%. We know Strickland is not a power puncher, I felt it. Strickland is an incredibly good boxer, boxing is really good. Very awkward... But he doesn't have that power."

Check out Dricus du Plessis' comments below (14:24):