Israel Adesanya was Octagon-side at UFC 314 to watch his teammate Alexander Volkanovski reclaim the featherweight title, and afterwards he told his coach Eugene Bareman that he wants to fight again.
“The one brief conversation that he had with me in the changing room at Volk’s, he said, ‘Look, man, I think I’m going to fight again.’ So like, you know, we’re talking about, those are the conversations we’re having,” Bareman told Submission Radio. “Like, ‘Yeah, I want to fight again. I want to fight again. I think I’m ready to fight again.”
The 35-year-old former middleweight champion’s future was in doubt after he suffered a 2nd round TKO loss to Nassourdine Imavov back in February, which marked his fourth loss in his last five fights.
Bareman believes that the 36-year-old Volkanovski’s successful comeback on Saturday night after suffering back-to-back KO defeats offers hope that Adesanya could also bounce back from his losing slump, but he appears to be keen to stress that to reach that level requires the kind of dedication and determination that the featherweight champ has shown.
“I’m being patient. Like, I mean, I’m cool with what Izzy does. Like, Izzy’s done everything he needs to do in the sport. Went to the highest level. You know, but the reality is, he’s lost three of his last four,” Bareman said.
“He knows the kind of commitment and dedication that he needs to be in the sport. And we just had one of our best friends, a guy who’s the same age as Izzy, might even be older, win the (featherweight) championship of the world. And we both know from firsthand experience how hard that man works.”
“You know, age isn’t age and is not going to matter to a guy when you work like that, mate. That’s the hardest best. I’m not privy to everybody’s camp and everybody’s work ethic, but that’s the hardest worker in the sport (Volkanovski). Age is not going to matter, mate.
“I couldn’t believe how many people that I was hearing were writing Volk off. And so we we have a very close friend of us, friend of ours, and we look at his work ethic and that’s the example. That’s the bar. That’s where we got to go. And as he knows that’s where he’s got to go. And that’s a heavy, heavy commitment to dedicate yourself as much as Volk does. It’s a heavy, heavy commitment for any fighter in their prime, let alone one that’s in the twilight of their career.”
