Israel Adesanya Returns To MMA After Five Months Break

Israel Adesanya’s coach, Eugene Bareman, has confirmed that the Nigerian-born Australian UFC star and Mixed Martial Artist is set to return to the Octagon in April this year.

Recall that Israel Adesanya announced that he was going on a break away from the MMA after he was shockingly defeated by Sean Strickland in September 2023.

Since then, Adesanya has been far away from competitive bouts, which was his first break from the fighting game.

Recall that Israel Adesanya has been dominating the UFC middleweight division since he made his debut in 2018. Since then, he has always fought at least three times a year.

The former Middleweight champion is set to reclaim his lost glory, according to his head coach Bareman.

“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.”

On when Israel Adesanya will be ready to return to Octagon, the coach added, “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.”