I don’t want to get nerfed

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Israel Adesanya recently shared his thoughts on possibly venturing into boxing before calling it a career. The former UFC middleweight champion explained that he was not keen on the idea and explained that he preferred to have the option of kicking his opponents in his bouts.

Adesanya is among the biggest names in mixed martial arts and is widely considered one of the greatest strikers in the sport. He has a professional record of 24-5, 16 of which have come by knockout, and holds the record for having the second-longest winning streak in the history of the middleweight division behind Anderson Silva.

Given his resume and fighting prowess, many wondered how the Nigerian-born would fare in the boxing ring. In an interview with Ariel Helwani ahead of his upcoming fight against Joe Pifer at UFC Seattle, Adesanya refused to venture into boxing and said:

“I have my price…it’s a lot. The only person who can make it happen is the Saudis.” [Arabia]…I never want to feel tempted to do that [boxing]. I want to finish Ultimate Fighting [championship]. I don’t want to get stressed. I want to fight with all my weapons I want to be able to kick someone in the face if I have to…so, yeah. “Nah.”

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Israel Adesanya talks about the current state of the UFC’s middleweight division

Israel Adesanya doesn’t think the band he once managed is as fun as it used to be. While he is happy with Khamzat Chimaev as the current champion, Adesanya sees a lack of spark in the division.

In the same interview with Ariel Helwani, Adesanya described the 185-pound division as “nice” and said:

“The middleweight division right now isn’t really the same as when you were in the game. What’s the last exciting thing at middleweight? It was exciting, people were talking about it… It’s good that they got Khamzat as champion. That was probably the last exciting thing, to be champion. I wasn’t able to be in the UFC for six weeks… For me, it didn’t feel the same as it did when I was around.”

He added:

“I gave people someone to love. I gave some people someone to hate. I gave them something to feel, whether they loved me or hated me. Right now, it seems nice. The other splits are much more interesting.”