Israel Adesanya's coach reacts to UFC title loss to Dricus Du Plessis and plots potential path back to the belt
22/08/2024 11:23
Despite ultimately leaving Perth without the belt in his possession, Israel Adesanya's coach Mike Angove sees plenty of positives from the title loss to Dricus Du Plessis; and more importantly, the potential of a 'career resurgence' from Stylebender.
Whilst Israel Adesanya might be on a two-fight losing streak following his submission loss to DDP this past weekend, those around the iconic middleweight are focusing on the silver lining; mainly that UFC 305 likely won't be Stylebender's last chance to reclaim gold and glory.
Israel Adesanya's coach reacts to UFC 305 title loss to DDP
Despite suffering a fourth-round submission loss to Dricus Du Plessis in Australia, the CKB team is seeing plenty of positives from Israel Adesanya's performance, and speaking to Submission Radio, coach Mike Angove explained what went right, and what went wrong.
"There are positives from that [fight], and from looking at it, I feel that Israel showed that he was quite capable of getting Dricus out of there, but Dricus also showed what he's shown all along, which is that he's an absolute dog.
"He's shown that indomitable will to win so we've got to credit him for that," stated coach Angove, before noting how victory itself was well within Adesanya's reach as the fight entered the championship rounds.
"It was a fight we probably let slip away a little bit, just a couple of mistakes but I think those mistakes come from a little bit of fatigue potentially and that can be attributed to time out of the game.
"Here's the thing, we know that Dricus has a great back-take, he's got a number of submissions and he's very quick to take the back – that's something you need to be aware of the whole time, and we made that mistake and paid for it."
Speaking in the octagon after Bruce Buffer announced, 'And Still', Adesanya refused to hang up the gloves as he bellowed "I'm not f***** leaving" to the rapturous cheer of the RAC Arena crowd – a decision that was celebrated by coach Angove.
"Israel looks like he has the ability to come back and have a resurgence in his career, he showed that he's more than capable of taking out anyone in that division, including Dricus."
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Talking of a 'career resurgence', what does coach Angove think is the next step for 'Stylebender'?
Adesanya's coach plots a potential route back to the UFC title
Israel Adesanya is currently in Lagos, Nigeria, and posted a short video to his Instagram earlier today showing the incredibly warm welcome he received.
Yet it won't be long before 'Stylebender' finds himself back in the CKB gym, which is where Angove says the journey to recapture UFC gold will begin.
"Look, I think the first we need to do is get back in the gym and see where the UFC goes with this [title picture] … You know, the champion does have the ability to dictate [who he fights] but we do know that Strickland's next in line."
The veteran trainer acknowledged that unless Dana White changes his mind regarding Sean Strickland getting the next title shot, Adesanya will likely have to secure a win over a top contender before the UFC offers him a 13th title fight.
"I anticipate that he will be expected to win another bout before we're talking about a title fight again [but] I think there's a few variables that come into play there.
“As I said, we'll be back in the gym and we'll be starting to prepare, working on the things we need to work on and adjust – we'll be ready."
Whilst there's not a "great imperative to hurry" back into action, there is a "great imperative to get back in the gym" in order to work on the various adjustments in time for Adesanya to make another run for UFC gold – and at 35 years of age, that window is closing fast.
"There's a difference there. There are some things we need to do, there's some work we need to do and [whatever] the direction that the UFC goes in, we will just have to roll with those punches as they come out."
Following UFC 305, Israel Adesanya is now 24-4 as a professional and at the time of writing, remains the #2 ranked middleweight contender.
