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Is Israel Adesanya's retirement speech a sign of fear or a strategic move for his legacy?

Apart from the UFC 305 PPV being an exciting one with great fights, it also gave us a first-time submission loss for the former 2-time UFC champion, Israel Adesanya. South African star Dricus Du Plessis retained his 185-pound prize. Although he lost, ‘The Last Stylebender’ is not done, and his post-fight speech left a lasting impression on Joe Rogan.

Following the end of the fight, Israel Adesanya and Dricus Du Plessis hashed their beef out, and that was a favorable sight for the 57-year-old longtime UFC commentator. “They worked it out [Adesanya and Du Plessis]. This is cool, too,” Joe Rogan stated on the ‘JRE Companion’ show featuring Brian Simpson, Tony Hinchcliffe and Brendan Schaub.

If that wasn’t memorable enough, Adesanya put smiles on Rogan and his friends after he dropped that famous line from ‘The Wolf of Wallstreet’ movie: “I’m not f***ing leaving.” “I can’t believe he’d actually say it. That’s such a golden opportunity,” Tony Hinchcliffe reacted.

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Meanwhile, Brian Simpson claimed that hardly any fighter is as good in the mic as Israel Adesanya, recalling the speech the former champion made at UFC 287. “Let’s not forget Izzy possibly the greatest post-fight speech of all time when he beat Alex. Bro that sh*t gives me chills,” he added.

via Getty

Even though he claimed that he’ll continue fighting, there was a real moment of scare after the fight. It seemed as if ‘Izzy’ was going to call for his retirement and it got Joe Rogan and his comedian friends worried for a minute, with the JRE host getting into a slight disagreement with Brendan Schaub.

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Joe Rogan and Brendan Schaub disagree on Israel Adesanya getting his gloves off after the fight

As soon as the fight ended, Israel Adesanya appeared to remove his gloves, something that wasn’t common after a fight. JRE producer Jamie Vernon noticed that and said, “Izzy might retire… I just saw him take his gloves off,”. Hearing that, the JRE host went “Oh my God” before claiming that Israel Adesanya didn’t take off the gloves because of retirement. “He might just be taking his gloves off cos’ the fight’s over,” said Rogan.

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What’s your perspective on:

Is Israel Adesanya's retirement speech a sign of fear or a strategic move for his legacy?

Have an interesting take?

However, tampering with fight gear while being inside the Octagon isn’t necessarily allowed in the UFC. Understandably, Brendan Schaub stated, “No, man. He can’t do that in the Octagon. Nobody does it,” while talking about Israel Adesanya taking off his gloves. But Joe Rogan insisted, “They’re off, but they’re not on the ground.”

Well, Adesanya’s not going anywhere and it will be interesting to see where his UFC career leads him to now. What do you predict will be Israel Adesanya’s next fight? Let us know in the comments below.