Israel Adesanya Opens Up About Feeling Undervalued

Former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya has admitted that he has felt somewhat underappreciated, despite being one of the biggest stars in the sport.

Adesanya (24-5 MMA, 13-5 UFC), who is set to return against Joe Pyfer in the main event of UFC Fight 271 at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, has only now opened up about the reasons behind those feelings.

“Look at the middleweight division now,” Adesanya told ESPN MMA. “Khamzat (Chimaev) was extremely active on his way up—finishing everyone, fighting multiple times, sometimes even twice in a month. But now that he’s champion, I’m not sure what’s going on. Is it visa issues? Injuries? I don’t know. He does have a fight coming up, but still—the last truly active champion was me.

“I was the last guy who consistently put it all on the line, who called out the best opponents regardless of the situation. That’s something people didn’t really appreciate at the time—even I didn’t fully appreciate it until now. Watching from the outside, I realize: ‘Damn, this division feels slow and stagnant without me.’

“There are probably other factors too, but one thing I can say for sure is that people didn’t fully value how active I was and how much I gave to the sport while I held the belt.”

Chimaev (15-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) captured the UFC middleweight title at UFC 319 with a unanimous decision victory over Dricus Du Plessis. He is now scheduled to face Sean Strickland at UFC 328 in May, marking nearly a nine-month gap between fights.

During Adesanya’s first title reign, he won the interim belt in April 2019, unified it in October of the same year, and successfully defended the title five times until July 2022. He also challenged for the light heavyweight title in March 2021. After losing the belt to Alex Pereira in November 2022, Adesanya reclaimed it in April 2023, before dropping it again to Strickland in September 2023.

Overall, Adesanya averaged just over five months between championship fights during his reign.

At the time, “The Last Stylebender” was often the go-to fighter whenever the UFC needed a main event, and he consistently delivered as one of the most active champions. Looking back, even Adesanya himself now realizes just how significant his activity was for the sport.

In Seattle, he will aim to break a three-fight losing streak against Pyfer (15-3 MMA, 6-1 UFC) and potentially kick off another run toward the title.