Israel Adesanya's head coach Eugene Bareman has shut down Joe Rogan's in-fight assessment that the UFC champion broke his hand at UFC 271.
Adesanya earned a unanimous decision win over former champion Robert Whittaker in the UFC 271 main event. He utilized an efficient striking attack to out-pace Whittaker, especially in the later rounds.
Eyebrows were raised when Rogan texted play-by-play commentator Jon Anik in the middle of the broadcast that he thought Adesanya had broken his right hand. Adesanya appeared to curl his right hand and not be as active with it as the fight went on.
During a recent interview on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, Bareman clarified Adesanya's reasoning for the inactivity with his right hand.
"No, that's more to do with something that happened in Rounds 2 through 4, trying to get that right-hand side going," Bareman said. "But for whatever reason, Robert was making Israel a little anxious to throw not just the right hand but the right side in terms of the leg going a little bit. [Israel] said not just the right side in terms of the upper body moving, but there was a block there that [Israel] tried to mitigate [his] way through each round. But for whatever reason, [he] wasn't able to successfully get that right hand going the way we wanted to. So it wasn't about a broken hand or anything, it was [mental]."
Rogan was absent from the commentary team due to an unknown conflict. It was originally reported by some outlets that it was due to a scheduling issue, but UFC President Dana White has since shut that theory down.
Adesanya has now successfully defended his title four times since knocking out Whittaker at UFC 243. He also challenged for the light heavyweight title against Jan Blachowicz at UFC 259 but fell short in a decision.
Bareman has clarified Adesanya's health status with his hand and it sounds like the middleweight champion is still anticipating a return for some time this summer.
Who do you want to see Israel Adesanya fight next in 2022?