Former middleweight kingpin Israel Adesanya has said he’s not concerned about the fact that his next Octagon outing against Nassourdine Imavov will be his first non-title fight in six year.

“I still get paid,” Adesanya said on his YouTube channel. “There’s still a referee, it’s two of us in there, there’s a crowd. It’s not like in the f*cking Apex or something, so it doesn’t feel any different. I think people are making it out to be something how they would react to it, but they’re not in my shoes. They’re not in my shorts.

“…It’s a Saudi Arabia Fight Night, first of all. I still get paid. It still feels like you’re fighting Israel Adesanya. This is the biggest fight of his life. I have to be the one to halt that. It still feels the same. It doesn’t feel any different.”

And Adesanya also casts aside the notion that his last loss to current champion Dricus du Plessis was harder to take than some others due to the pre-fight rivalry between them.

“No, not at all. I did my best, and I was in pretty good shape. … The Dricus fight, I was in great shape. I f*cking felt strong, but yeah, definitely room for improvement, and we’ve made those improvements.”