Joe Rogan weighs in on Israel Adesanya's alleged injury in fight against Dricus du Plessis

Israel Adesanya's loss to Dricus du Plessis has raised Joe Rogan's eyebrow. On episode #162 of the JRE MMA Show, the popular podcaster welcomed newly minted UFC welterweight champion Belal Muhammad, with whom he discussed several topics.

Among them, was Adesanya's performance at UFC 305, which saw him fall to du Plessis via fourth-round submission. One of the more notable aspects of the fight was Adesanya tiring sooner than he usually does, sparking Rogan's curiosity.

This ultimately led to Rogan coming across Alex Pereira's theory that 'The Last Stylebender' may have fought through an injury, which isn't the first time the Brazilian has made such a suggestion. The UFC commentator said:

"Well, they clashed shins a bunch of times. I mean, it could have happened in the fight, but the problem is he was still tired. I mean, I'm sure he was injured. It's a crazy fight, you get injured."

Check out Joe Rogan's thoughts on Israel Adesanya's UFC 305 performance (2:12:53):

The veteran UFC commentator though, was willing to give du Plessis some level of credit by speculating that Adesanya may have injured himself during the fight, as opposed to entering the cage with a pre-existing injury. Nevertheless, he lost the bout to the South African.

That Adesanya's cardio wasn't able to keep pace seems to be the most surprising facet of the fight for Rogan. However, it may very well be due to the amount of grappling Adesanya had to undergo. His cardiovascular and muscular endurance are optimized for prolonged striking exchanges, not wrestling.

He is, after all, a striker by trade. This is often the case with most fighters. Strikers will have exceptional cardio for striking but not wrestling or grappling and vice versa. That du Plessis not only forced Adesanya to wrestle far more than usual but also kept him on the backfoot may have contributed to the latter's cardio issues.

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Alex Pereira was the first to theorize that Israel Adesanya may have been injured

Alex Pereira and Israel Adesanya are more familiar with each other than almost any other pair of fighters on the UFC roster. Across both MMA and kickboxing, the two men have faced each other four times. Thus, 'Poatan' opined that the absence of Adesanya's inside low kicks at UFC 305 was due to an undisclosed injury.

However, Adesanya stopped short of outright confirming the injury. Instead, he merely remarked that Pereira knows his fighting style well, but never revealed information regarding a potential injury or even used it as an excuse.