D'Arcy Waldegrave: Israel Adesanya is finding himself in an unusual position

“Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before the fall.”   

Israel Adesanya, the Last Stylebender, gets his fight on again tomorrow in Riyadh.   

The former middleweight UFC champion finds himself in an unusual situation, he comes from a place of weakness. He has lost his last two fights; indeed, he has only tasted bloodied victory in half of his last eight fights.  

A fall from grace? The natural implosion of a shooting star? The pursuing pack catching and tearing apart their prey?  

Regardless of how you describe it, the former golden boy of the octagon will enter the fray on Sunday morning as the hunted, cradling the experiential knowledge of repeat defeats.  

His opponent also knows the Stylebender’s suit of armour has been dented, compromised. Nassourdine Imavov is a fighter on the up. Three wins on the bounce in ‘24 against top 10 fighters, he sees this exchange as his gateway to a title fight.   

An athlete in the ascendancy versus an athlete plateauing.  

Israel spoke earlier in his career of how humble he is. That may have been carefully designed rhetoric to offset his larger than life ego, but now he has been humbled. His last two losses, against Strickland and Du Plessis, have crashed his McLaren, torn his Gucci suit and stolen his Rolex.   

This fight isn’t pay-per-view, it’s not a title fight. This is an unusual position for the former champ, but a position that will ultimately be the best for his career.  

Stripped back, naked if you will, in full glare of his legions of fans and fully exposed to the slings and arrows of those hungry to see him fall, this battle could reignite one of the greatest fighters of his generation or push him into the yawning abyss.   

He reached deep into his id the night he first won the middleweight belt, tomorrow morning he’ll have to reach deeper.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the All Sport Breakfast podcast with Dancy
Waldgrave from News Talk said by all the analysis, all
the talk, all the sports, The All Sport Breakfast with
Dancy Waldegrave on your home of Sports US Talks.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Now Fighting out of the Red Corner resarching the Ultimate
radio news Talk Chuppyard, don't.

Speaker 3 (00:38):
Water God, water Grove. It's at Buffy. You sacked, sit down,
your fired, moved to one side. I've got a better one. Really,
I made him do it again. We talked with Bruce.
Bruce on a regular basis. I could not write water Grove,
indeed anyone on the UFC. And of course it's all

(00:59):
front and center, and not only has hangman Honker got
a fight coming up in five weeks. Is Duson gets
in the ring or the octagon tomorrow? Pride goes before destruction,
a haughty spirit before the fall, the last style bender's
as he gets his fight on again tomorrow. And Reard,

(01:20):
the former middleweight UFC champion, finds himself in an unusual situation.
He comes from a place of weakness. He's lost his
last two fights. Indeed, he's only tasted bloodied victory in
half of his last eight fights, a fall from grace,
the natural implosion of a shooting star, the pursuing pack

(01:41):
catching and tearing apart their prey. Regardless of how you
describe this, the former golden Boy of the octagon will
enter the fray on Sunday morning as the hunted, creating
the experiential knowledge of repeat defeats his opponent also knows
the style bender's suit of armor has been dented, compromised.

(02:02):
Nassaudin and mvov is a fighter on the up. Three
wins on the bound, twenty four against how am I
saying twenty four I mean twenty twenty four against the
top ten fighter that he sees this exchange as his
gateway to a title fight, an athlete in the ascendency
versus an athlete plateauing. Israel spoke early in his career

(02:24):
about how humble he is. That may have been carefully
designed rhetoric to offset as larger than life ego, but
now he has been humbled. His last two losses against Strickland,
to perceive, have crashed as McLaren torn his Gucci suit,
stolen his rolex. This fight isn't pay per view, It's

(02:44):
not a title fight. This is an unusual position for
the former champ, but a position that I believe will
ultimately be the best for his career. He stripped back
naked if you will. He's in full glare of his
legions of fans and fully exposed to the slings and
arrows of those hungry to see him four. This battle

(03:07):
could reignite one of the greatest fighters of this generation,
or push him into the yawning abyss. He reached deep
into his head the first ninety one a middleweight belt.
Tomorrow morning, he'll have to reach deeper. That'll do. I

(03:27):
gave last chance.

Speaker 2 (03:30):
News Talk ZiT B Radio Darcy.

Speaker 3 (03:37):
Waldock, Right, that's it. You can keep your job. Buffer
well done, honestly.

Speaker 1 (03:44):
For more from the Your Sport Breakfast with Darcy Watergrave,
listen live to News Talk said Be on Saturday mornings,
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