Kamaru Usman suggests Israel Adesanya emulate Anderson Silva’s approach to the end of his UFC career.
Adesanya (24-5 MMA, 13-5 UFC) suffered his third straight loss when he was knocked out by Nassourdine Imavov (16-4 MMA, 8-2 UFC) in this past Saturday’s main event at ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He has now lost four out of his past five.
Usman, who’s good friends with Adesanya, said “The Last Stylebender” has nothing left to prove after previously defending his UFC middleweight title five times. He’d like to see him do what Silva did before wrapping up his career, which is take entertaining stylistic matchups after reigning over the middleweight division for almost a decade.
“For Israel, man, honestly he’s at a point in his career to where – remember Anderson Silva got to this place where, ‘I’m going to pick a fun fight. It’s a fun fight, that’s a fight that I think is going to be great, that people want to see that fight.'” Usman said on his “Pound 4 Pound” podcast with Henry Cejudo. “Because Izzy did show that he can still fight, he was sharp.”
Adesanya pondered his fighting future after losing to Imavov but did not mention retirement.
“Right now, Izzy, take your time. When you want to come back at the end of the year then take a fight that makes sense,” Usman concluded.
Before hanging up his gloves in 2020, Silva’s final UFC fights took place against the likes of Adesanya, Daniel Cormier, and Uriah Hall.
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