Israel Adesanya’s coach, Eugene Bareman, has revealed that the Nigerian-born fighter is ready for a return to the Octagon, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
The former middleweight champion hasn’t fought since his unanimous decision loss to Sean Strickland back in September 2023. Since then, Adesanya has been taking time off and no return date has been pencilled in so far by the UFC.
His head coach Bareman has spoken about when the former champion could make his potential return to the cage.
“Izzy’s back training, so he’s back in the swing of things. We’re training just in case there’s an eventuality of a fight. We’re getting him fit and he’s getting ready to take up a potential date should one come up soon,” Bareman told Combat TV.
“He’s basically finished his little hiatus and he’s ready to come back. So just give us a date, give us an opponent and we’ll show up ready to go. We’ve been going for a good month-and-a-half now, so he’s probably on the edge of starting to look like he’s getting started to get back in shape,”
The coach then revealed that Adesanya should be back to his fighting form by April which is in a month and a half saying, “A couple more months, another month-and-a-half, he’ll be flying. He’ll be back to pre-hiatus kind of level.
“He’s looking good. It’s good to have him back in the gym. He seems to have a renewed sort of energy, and he’s definitely resided to looking after himself really well. He’s been making the most of his time off and he feels like he’s refreshed and ready to go.”
Since his UFC debut back in 2018, Adesanya has been on a rampage in the middleweight division destroying every opponent the UFC have given him. He has constantly fought three times a year.
After years of competitions and the shock loss to Strickland, many felt a hiatus away from MMA was the right thing to do for Adesanya. A refreshed Adesanya is now set on another journey to claim back his middleweight belt.
The month Bareman anticipates for Adesanya’s return is the same month as the UFC 300 event where Dricus du Plessis is expected to defend the middleweight belt he won off Strickland in January.
