Israel Adesanya releases first reaction to second-round TKO loss to Nassourdine Imavov at UFC Saudi Arabia: "I'm still alive"

Israel Adesanya recently came clean on his thoughts after his loss against Nassourdine Imavov at the main event of UFC Saudi Arabia. Adesanya specifically lauded one aspect of his rival's game.

The main event of UFC Saudi Arabia marked Adesanya's first fight in a UFC non-PPV event after 2018. However, 'The Last Stylebender' mentioned in one of his YouTube videos that he doesn't feel any different because of this change.

Both fighters maintained a degree of cautiousness in the initial minutes of the fight. Adesanya, who usually feints his strikes a lot, took a more direct approach to this fight. Both the middleweights enjoyed their moments of success in the first round of the encounter.

Adesanya switched to a more aggressive approach in the second round, but his momentum was disrupted by a mild eye poke from Imavov. The former middleweight king refused to take a break despite the referee's intervention. However, the following seconds turned out to be disastrous for him, as Imavov finished him with the combination of an overhand right and some ground-and-pound.

One of Adesanya's recent X updates showcased his reaction to the fight on rewatching it. The Nigerian-New Zealander appreciated Imavov's "speed" and labeled the stoppage as "fair game". However, in the end, he implied that he could've carried on:

"Aah... The speed [of Imavov]. Bro, the speed. F*ck the speed, [that's] so good... Oh [during the knockdown]... Fair play, fair play [during the stoppage]... I was still alive."

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Israel Adesanya doesn't have a plan for his next move in the UFC

While Nassourdine Imavov's win streak went up to four with a victory at UFC Saudi Arabia, Israel Adesanya's defeat mounted his losing streak to three continuous losses. In a post-fight interview with ESPN MMA, Adesanya also mentioned that he doesn't have a clear idea about what his next move would be. 'The Last Stylebender' said:

"I don't know [what's next]. I'll have to chill and then think about things. I will relax first for a little bit, just help the teammates who have fights coming up. Yeah, I'll see what I want to do. I was going to do that anyway, but now I'm forced to. Shoutout to Nassourdine for that."

Check out Adesanya's words in the below X update by @ChampRDS: