Adesanya (24-4 MMA, 13-4 UFC) has now lost three of his past four fights after being submitted by Dricus Du Plessis (22-2 MMA, 8-0 UFC) in their middleweight title fight in Saturday’s headliner at RAC Arena in Perth, Australia.
Adesanya removed his gloves after the loss, which fueled speculation that he may be done fighting. However, Adesanya clarified that he has no intentions of retiring, and Cormier wonders what his motivation will be if he competes in non-title fights.
“He looked like he was going to retire because he took his gloves off, but then he said, ‘I ain’t going nowhere, I’m staying here,'” Cormier said on his YouTube channel. “That’s a tricky thing for Adesanya, because now he’s got to go and fight fights that would seem to mean less than anything he has done for a really, really long time.
“You know he had fought 12 straight title fights. He has now lost two title fights in a row – one to Strickland, one to Du Plessis. How long will it take him to earn his way back to another championship opportunity? This weight class is on fire, though.”
Although middleweight great Adesanya may no longer be in the current title picture, Cormier is excited about the future of the division.
“I know it’s hard whenever a long-reigning champion goes away, but the state that it’s in today is as good as middleweight has been for a long time,” Cormier said.
“You’ve got Izzy still there, you’ve got Rob Whittaker who’s still there, you’ve got Khamzat Chimaev who’s still there, you’ve got Sean Strickland who’s still there, and now we’ve got Alex Pereira saying ‘I went to 205 and became the champion, but I never said I wasn’t going back down to ’85.’ That would probably be the most worrisome thought for me as a contender at middleweight, but it makes the division unbelievably fun.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 305.
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