Israel Adesanya's first non-title fight since 2019 is set to take place at UFC Saudi Arabia on Feb. 1 against Nassourdine Imavov. Ahead of the bout, the former champion appears to be approaching his career with a renewed vigor. 'The Last Stylebender' is in far better physical condition than he was this time last year, and Adesanya has thanked his father for his role in that evolution.
During a recently released vlog of the 35-year-old's fight camp for his clash with Imavov, he explained how his father, a longtime accountant, altered how Adesanya viewed his training schedule.
The training vlog was uploaded to the middleweight contender's YouTube channel, where he said this:
"My dad made me realize, account for every day. He's my accountant, he told me, 'Do you know how much it is every day you wake up? You know you don't just get paid. Everyday you wake up is this much.' He did the calculations, and that made me look at my day different. Because I wake up and I'm like, 'Let's get money. I'm getting this much today.' When he told me [how much I make] I was surprised, this-many thousand every day... It's a good way to look at it because this way I'm accountable."
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Check out Israel Adesanya's comments below (9:20):
Alexander Volkanovski says Israel Adesanya looks better than ever ahead of UFC Saudi Arabia
Alexander Volkanovski joined Israel Adesanya for the final stage of his training camp for UFC Saudi Arabia, and 'The Great' could not have been more impressed with his teammate and friend's form ahead of fight night.
Volkanovski and Adesanya both employ a training method called "The Spyda", used as a fight simulator, which consists of five five-minute rounds with wrestling, striking and high-intensity cardio exercises.
The fighters use The Spyda at the end of their training camps, and the former featherweight champion traveled to City Kickboxing in New Zealand to witness Adesanya's Spyda ahead of Feb. 1.
Volkanovski had this to say:
"Obviously we've had a lot of five-round Spydas. At the back end of your career you probably wouldn't expect to see the best Spydas you've ever done. But I literally, that is the best Spyda I have ever seen [Adesanya] do. Very, very happy I got to see that. Always confident in him, but seeing that work ethic and that work rate he just put there, mate, he's going to be unstoppable." [7:10-7:35 in Israel Adesanya's aforementioned training vlog]