Israel Adesanya has said he's now unfazed by title belts and wins or losses, instead wanting to build his star to a similar level to Conor McGregor.
The Irishman became the first fighter in history to become a two-division UFC champion simultaneously back in 2016, and has maintained his status as the promotion's biggest star. Both he and Adesanya are stablemates in Audie Attar's Paradim Sports Management company, and are some of the highest paid athletes the sport has ever seen.
But Adesanya has been inspired in recent years by McGregor's ability to stay relevant, and earning major money, despite results not going his way. McGregor has won just once since 2016, but topped last year's highest earning athletes list and remained on the leaderboard this year despite having no fights due to injury.
And Adesanya believes he can be similar to McGregor in his star-power, insisting that world titles including his own middleweight championship, mean little to him now. He frequently declares that he doesn't know where his belt is, and now insists he is only interested in expressing himself in the cage.
"I don't care about wins or losses anymore to be honest," he said in a video for the UFC's Twitter page. "I don't care about belts. I couldn't tell you where the belt is right now.
"Conor McGregor doesn't even have a belt. He hasn't fought in how long and he's still one of the biggest superstars in this game because he's made himself that way. All I want to do is just show off. I want to show my essence, I want to express myself, I want to show off."
Adesanya will get a chance to show off in his fifth title defence this weekend at UFC 276 in Las Vegas. He faces No.2 contender Jared Cannonier at the T-Mobile Arena to headline International Fight Week, and is a heavy favourite to once again retain his title.
Are you excited for Israel Adesanya's next world title defence against Jared Cannonier on Saturday night? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!
Adesanya has only been in the promotion since 2018, but has already run through the the 185lb division, including beating both Robert Whittaker and Marvin Vettori twice. He has just one loss on his MMA record, when he moved up 20lb to fight Jan Blachowicz last year for the light-heavyweight title in Abu Dhabi.
But other than that one outlier, the Nigerian-born New Zealand-based fighter has looked unbeatable in his own division. He became interim champion in 2019 before quickly unifying against Whittaker, who he defeated again this February.
He is one of the most recognisable stars in the promotion, and this year signed a massive deal to become the UFC's highest paid active fighter aside from McGregor. He is managed by Tim Simpson, who works under Attar at Paradigm.
