Last Saturday at UFC 305 saw Israel Adesanya concede his second straight loss for the first time in his MMA career. The Nigerian born fighter was submitted by middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis in a gruelling affair inside the Octagon.
Although unable to reclaim the middleweight crown, Adesanya’s coach Mike Angove believes there are a lot of positives to be taken away from the title loss.
Israel Adesanya’s Coach Reacts to UFC 305 Submission Loss
In an interview with Submission Radio, Mike Angove of City Kickboxing gave a frank assessment of Adesanya’s loss. Explaining both the good and bad able to be identified in his performance.
“There are positives from that [fight], and from looking at it, I feel that Israel showed that he was quite capable of getting Dricus out of there. But Dricus also showed what he’s shown all along, which is that he’s an absolute dog.
He’s shown that indomitable will to win so we’ve got to credit him for that.”
Angove went on to explain that he felt the fight was within winning distance prior to the fatal back-take in the fourth round.
“It was a fight we probably let slip away a little bit. Just a couple of mistakes but I think those mistakes come from a little bit of fatigue potentially and that can be attributed to time out of the game.
Here’s the thing, we know that Dricus has a great back-take. He’s got a number of submissions and he’s very quick to take the back. That’s something you need to be aware of the whole time, and we made that mistake and paid for it.”
A second consecutive loss for ‘Stylebender’ has not led to Angove losing faith in his student. In-fact, he believes that this performance proved what Adesanya is still able to do.
“Israel looks like he has the ability to come back and have a resurgence in his career. He showed that he’s more than capable of taking out anyone in that division, including Dricus.”
Path Back to the UFC Middleweight Title
Days removed from the fight, Angove already has a rough idea of what a return looks like for Adesanya. Citing Dana White’s confirmation that Sean Strickland is next in line for the belt.
“Look, I think the first we need to do is get back in the gym and see where the UFC goes with this [title picture]. You know, the champion does have the ability to dictate but we do know that Strickland’s next in line.”
The City Kickboxing coach is also under the impression that Adesanya will have to win a contender fight before he challenges for a title again. Something he has not had to do since beating Anderson Silva in 2019.
“I anticipate that he will be expected to win another bout before we’re talking about a title fight again [but] I think there’s a few variables that come into play there.
As I said, we’ll be back in the gym and we’ll be starting to prepare. Working on the things we need to work on and adjust – we’ll be ready.”
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
