Israel Adesanya reveals how Khamzat Chimaev reignited his fire for a fight: "That was crazy"

Israel Adesanya recently came clean on how Khamzat Chimaev revamped his wish to return to the octagon. Adesanya also mentioned that he wanted to face 'Borz' in the future.

Adesanya has been going through a rough patch in his UFC career since the latter half of 2023. He reclaimed the UFC middleweight gold, with his victory against Alex Pereira. However, 'The Last Stylebender' couldn't defend the title against Sean Strickland, as he lost via unanimous decision.

An almost-a-year-long hiatus couldn't help Adesanya's cause either, as he also lost his return fight to Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 305 via submission. Recently, Adesanya has mentioned how he has only a few more years left in the sport.

But in a recent video on his YouTube channel FREESTYLEBENDER, the Nigerian-New Zealander mentioned how Khamzat Chimaev's dominating win over Robert Whittaker at UFC 308 ignited his wish to lock horns with 'Borz' at some point. A tweet from @ChampRDS highlighted Adesanya's words. He said:

"I was surprised [by] the way Khamzat ran through Rob [Robert Whittaker]. That was crazy. That made me want to fight him. I was like, ‘S*it! This guy is really really good.'"

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Israel Adesanya laughed off Manel Kape's recent attack on him and his UFC flyweight teammate

The UFC flyweight Manel Kape has been feuding with Israel Adesanya's teammate Kai Kara-France since mid-2023. Kape and Adesanya both were scheduled to fight at UFC 293 and hence were on the stage for the pre-event press conference. But Kape got into a heated altercation with Kara-France who was among the crowd.

The situation had Adesanya stepping in to diffuse the tension, but Kape bad-mouthed 'The Last Stylebender' as well. Kape's octagon interview after his KO victory at UFC Tampa revealed that he hadn't moved on from his feud with Kara-France and Adesanya. He said:

'F**k Kai Kara-France... F**k Adesanya''

Check out Manel Kape's octagon interview (0:59):

Adesanya expressed his reaction to Kape's diss in the UFC Tampa live reaction video on his YouTube channel. He began his reaction with a laugh and later said:

"This shows I [have] been in his head this whole time. I didn't even think it was like that, but he did well, good job. Little b*tch a** n***a."

Check out Israel Adesanya's comments below (7:22):