Israel Adesanya ‘comes for heads’, not UFC championship belts

Israel AdesanyaThe motivation goes beyond winning back UFC gold.

Adesanya (24-3 MMA, 13-3 UFC) lost the middleweight title in a big loss to Sean Strickland in September UFC 293.

“The Last Stylebender” has not competed since, but is expected to challenge middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis (21-2 MMA, 7-0 UFC), potentially on August 17 at UFC 305 in Perth, Australia.

“I’m excited,” Adesanya said in his Youtube channel. “It’s been a year, almost a year, about 11 months since I returned to the Octagon. People always say, ‘I hope you get the belt back, I hope you get the belt back.’ Like, I have belts. I don’t need belts anymore. I’m going after heads.

“That’s what I want to do. I’m excited to go back, but everything comes at the right time. So now it’s train, relax, work, relax, heal. So when the time comes, it will be time to kill.”

Adesanya is a two-time UFC middleweight champion. In his first title reign, he defended the belt five times against Yoel Romero, Paulo Costa, Marvin Vettori, Robert Whittaker and Jared Cannonier. He was dethroned by Alex Pereira in UFC 281before avenging the defeat in the rematch and regaining the belt in UFC 287.

Adesanya then lost the title to Strickland and will look to regain it once again when he faces Du Plessis in a grudge match. Du Plessis revealed that he has already accepted the fight and is unsure what the reason for the announcement is.

This story originally appeared on MMA Junkie