Israel Adesanya was unable to recapture the UFC middleweight title at UFC 305, meaning that for the first time in his MMA career, he's coming off of back-to-back losses.
"The Last Stylebender" made it clear in his post-fight interview that he's not leaving the Octagon for good just yet despite his defeat to Dricus Du Plessis in Perth, Australia.
In fact, even though he did show some weaknesses, there were a lot of positives to take away from his main event display. Up until he was hurt by a big looping shot, it appeared that he was on his way to swinging the contest his way in the fourth round.
The big question to answer after he put in a good performance but was ultimately defeated is whether Du Plessis was simply the better man on the night, or is Adesanya not as good as he once was?
Matt Brown Questions Whether Israel Adesanya Is On A Clear Decline
There were certainly shades of the Adesanya that blew everyone away with his rise up the middleweight ladder and subsequent title reign.
His accuracy and shot selection was a work of art but his defense did appear to suffer, and he took some big shots from "Stillknocks." That eventually led to a mistake on the ground which cost him the fight.
During the latest episode of Fighter vs. Writer on MMA Fighting, UFC veteran Matt Brown weighed in with his thoughts on this past weekend's title clash.
Like many, he liked what he saw from the former champion but he did address some concerns over whether at 35, things aren't getting any easier for "The Last Stylebender."
I’ve had the question, Izzy is 35, he’s got a lot of miles on him from kickboxing and MMA, is his peak just ending? Is that what happened over the weekend? Is his peak just ending? When he fought [Sean] Strickland, maybe he just had an off night, but maybe he’s slowing down too. Maybe five years ago that was an easy fight for him, and he’s just not in peak form anymore.
The way he looked against Dricus, I thought he looked really good, but that could have been him still slowing down a little bit. I thought his defense didn’t look as good as it had in the past, which was kind of the unique thing because he relies so much on reactions. He’s not necessarily a hands tight, high guard, really defensive guy in that sense, really technical. He kind of relies on reactions. When those start slowing down, that’s when guys like Dricus start hitting you. That’s when guys like Strickland start hitting you a lot more. If he’s slowing down a little bit, maybe his time is up?
It remains to be seen what lies ahead in the career of Adesanya. In terms of the title picture, it would appear a clash of his former opponents is to come, with Du Plessis expected to run it back with former champ Sean Strickland.