Israel Adesanya opens up about health issues after UFC 281!

Israel Adesanya has opened up about his health issues after a tough defeat to Alex Pereira at UFC 281.

The middleweight division has a new champion and his name is Alex Pereira. After a three-year reign as UFC’s middleweight king, Adesanya suffered his first defeat in the division (and only his second in MMA) when he took on “Poatan” Pereira at last weekend’s event. “The Last Stylebender” was ahead on all judges’ scorecards when a devastating left hook in the fifth round turned the tide in Pereira’s favour. Adesanya wasn’t happy with the referee’s decision to call the fight, but seemed to have accepted the defeat by the time the post-fight press conference commenced.

An immediate rematch seemed an obvious next step considering Adesanya’s accomplishments in the division; however, the former champion’s health issues could put the fight on hold for the foreseeable future.

“I don’t disclose everything,” Adesanya said during the post-fight press conference. “I’ve had some stuff that, some medical stuff that I just put on the backburner. Even some stuff that people make fun of me for.

“I mean, I just gotta look out for myself ’cause my health comes first. Even, think about Chadwick Boseman. When everyone was making fun of him: “Oh, you look so this, you look so skinny, you look so sleepy,” not knowing behind the scenes he was fighting cancer. People always make fun of me about, you know, my chest and other things, but they don’t know what I’m doing or what I’m going through in life. But I just keep everything on the backburner, so I just got some things to fix first. And, yeah, I’ll be back.”