Eugene Bareman has seemingly agreed that his student Israel Adesanya is not being promoted the way he should by the UFC.
Speaking to hosts Denis Shkuratov and Kacper Rosolowski on Submission Radio, City Kickboxing’s Eugene Bareman opened up on multiple topics. During the interview, Shkuratov asked whether Bareman feels that the UFC doesn’t do enough to promote a charismatic and rare talent like Israel Adesanya, despite him being a UFC champion.
Bareman responded by insinuating that he can’t speak too much regarding such a topic on a public platform right now. The Submission Radio hosts understandably concurred with the famed MMA coach. That said, he did agree with Shkuratov’s comments. Bareman stated:
“You are correct; a hundred percent correct. But I’m not, at the moment, willing to talk about this particular subject. At the moment, I’m sorry, boys. I can’t.” Bareman added, “It’s one hundred percent the correct observation. The correct observation – He’s not being nowhere near pushed the way he should. But there’s stuff that I can’t talk about regarding that. So, I’ll just leave it as a no comment. But your assumption is correct. They can. At least I agree with that.”
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Rosolowski chimed in and alluded that the upcoming fight against Robert Whittaker is one of two fights left on Israel Adesanya’s current UFC contract. Bareman refrained from expounding upon this. Thus far, Adesanya has headlined four major UFC PPV events that have garnered more than 2.27 million PPV buys in total.
Watch Eugene Bareman’s latest appearance on Submission Radio in the video below:
Michael Bisping on a possible chink in Israel Adesanya's armor ahead of Robert Whittaker rematch
Israel Adesanya beat Robert Whittaker via second-round KO at UFC 243 in October 2019. UFC middleweight champion Adesanya is now set to defend his title in a rematch against Whittaker at UFC 271 on February 12th.
On a recent edition of his Believe You Me podcast, Michael Bisping addressed this much-awaited rematch. The MMA legend alluded to Adesanya’s loss to Jan Blachowicz in their light heavyweight title fight last year. Bisping opined that getting out-wrestled and beaten by Blachowicz could affect Adesanya in his rematch against a brilliant wrestler like Whittaker. ‘The Count’ said:
"I'm wondering if the pressure of Robert's getting to him a little bit...Certainly after losing to Jan Blachowicz...When you lose a fight, maybe there's a little chink in the armor. The mind isn't quite as rock solid as it used to be and it's only natural. And he lost by takedowns and Robert is an accomplished wrestler...It's gonna be a much, much more competitive fight this time."
Watch Michael Bisping discuss the UFC 271 headliner and more below: