There was a time when a fighter who many call ‘The Last Stylebender’ seemed unstoppable as he reigned supreme at the top of the middleweight throne. At the time, no one in their right mind tried to out-strike him, and no one could take him down and keep him down for long either. With an undefeated record heading into his first title fight, Adesanya delivered a Fight of the Year winner performance against Kelvin Gastelum and then knocked out Robert Whittaker to become the undisputed middleweight champion of the world.

From there on, Israel Adesanya ran through the middleweight division as he garnered a total of five title defenses while losing once to Jan Blachowicz in an attempt to win the 205-pound belt and become a double champion. Upon his return to middleweight to defend his throne, he collected three more victories while gaining a 2-0 lead over Whittaker and Marvin Vettori in the process. Then he lost the belt to Alex Pereira, causing his second middleweight title run to begin after he took his revenge on ‘Poatan’.

But his second title run was met by a rather abrupt ending when he fought Sean Strickland. Strickland’s victory over Adesanya is considered by many as the biggest upset in the UFC’s modern history. At UFC 293, the MMA community could not believe what they had just witnessed. Strickland knocked down Adesanya, dominated, and he outclassed him. Since then, he has lost two more times. While talking about his past rivals, Adesanya was asked which rival of his he hated the most. Though everyone may have thought of a different answer, his answer was: “I’ll say Sean, Sean was one definitely yeah.”

And why is Sean Strickland is in his crosshairs? If we look at it, Israel Adesanya was finished by Alex Pereira, Dricus Du Plessis, and recently, Nassourdine Imavov. But that’s the thing. They finished him. He got caught by the people who finished him in the UFC. With Strickland? It was his first unanimous decision loss at middleweight. What’s more? He couldn’t win against ‘Tarzan’ with his dynamic style, despite the latter’s being relatively one-dimensional in comparison.

Besides, Strickland has done more than just beat ‘Izzy’ over five rounds. Before fighting him, the American fighter took a jibe at the two things Adesanya probably loves the most—his love for anime and his dog.

But why Strickland and not Dricus Du Plessis? Didn’t Adesanya cry in the same press conference when ‘Stillknocks’ called out ‘Stylebender’ for his privilege? Well, he spoke about it in the same podcast with Kamaru Usman and Henry Cejudo.

Israel Adesanya moved on the UFC 305 incident with Dricus Du Plessis?

We all remember the UFC 305 press conference where Adesanya was seen crying during and after a heated exchange with the middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis. While Adesanya was talking about his origin and visiting his birthplace, Du Plessis asked Adesanya the infamous ‘servants’ question that seemed to rattle ‘The Last Stylebender’ to his core. In response came one of the heaviest moments in Adesanya’s career as he was massively trolled by the MMA community for crying during the heated verbal exchange.

But times change and people move on, and in Adesanya’s case, it seems he has surely moved on. As he always has, Israel Adesanya never has been the one to stand and listen to his critics and trolls even though he knows he has so many. While talking with UFC veterans Kamaru Usman and Henry Cejudo on their show Pound 4 Pound, Adesanya explained why he broke down to tears and explained that it had nothing to do with Dricus Du Plessis, but more to do with his mother.

“That one was different, because again, people was like ‘Oh you know he made you cry.’ It’s like he didn’t make me cry, okay. I’ll tell you what it is, I was talking about my mom so what we used to do as a high schooler. I used to go with my dad to my mom’s job because, she was studying to be a nurse so we go to the bank to clean at like 4:00, and maybe 4:30. Get back home get ready for school and then go to school.”

He further added, “So I was doing and I, I mentioned that and I saw my mom in front and she kind of like welled up and you know when mom welled up it was just like it hit me in the feels too, so it wasn’t him. It was my mom that kind of seen her get emotional got me emotional, but nah that’s just life that’s just life. “

Indeed, Israel Adesanya has come a long way from where he started. That high-schooler who was up at 4:30 is surely proud of the fighter and person he has become today.

Perhaps Adesanya saying he hates Strickland the most is just his way of staying focused on his next target. ‘The Last Stylebender’ has always shown up to a fight whenever he is in the mood for vengeance. We all know that Adesanya has shown interest in returning to the octagon and even revealed he has his eyes set on getting back the Strickland loss. After all, it is the loss that hurts him the most. So do you think Israel Adesanya will end up fighting Sean Strickland? Let us know in the comments.