Israel Adesanya has been in this position before, with a segment of critics doubting his ability to bounce back from a loss.
After being knocked out on his feet by Alex Pereira in November 2022, Adesanya returned the favor and slienced critics by sleeping the Brazilian in April 2023 to regain the middleweight world title.
Now, following his upset loss to Sean Strickland in September, Adesanya looks to become a three-time middleweight world champion this weekend when he challenges Dricus du Plessis at UFC 305.
Again, he'll look to hush naysayers and jog their memory as to why he's one of the greatest mixed martial artists to ever step foot into the Octagon.
"I didn't really prepare to win the belt or make history, I'm just preparing to kill this guy," Adesanya began warning du Plessis, while speaking with Daniel Cormier on the latter's YouTube page. "That's what I've done and you've seen me whenever people doubt me or whenever I feel like people forget because again, this is gonna happen.
"I'll take this guy's head off and they'll be like 'damn, f—k, he's really ... damn, I forgot he's really that dude,'" he continued. "They saw my Strickland fight and people forget straight away. They just forget the classics I've given them. But then when I go in there this weekend, I do what I do, then they're gonna be like 'how did I f—ing not see this?'"
Adesanya added: "It's in hindsight. They're like 'I thought Dricus was going to take him down and maul him like he did [Robert] Whittaker, like he did Darren Till.' It's like 'nah, it's a different beast you're messing with this time.'"
This weekend marks Adesanya's longest layoff from the Octagon as he last fought September 10, 2023.
In addition, the UFC 305 main event will serve as Adesanya's 12th consecutive UFC title fight.
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