Isreal Adesanya reveals who should be blamed for his 1st UFC career defeat to Blachowicz
Israel Adesanya's flawless record came to an abrupt end following his defeat to Jan Blachowicz in the UFC 259 light heavyweight championship in Las Vegas.
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The Nigerian mixed martial artist suffered his first professional defeat in the combat sport after bowing to his Polish opponent in the fifth round through a unanimous decision.
All three judges gave the contest to Blachowicz with a scorecard of 49–46, 49–45, 49–45 at the end of the meeting.
However, while reacting to the setback, the 31-year-old insisted that the fight didn't go as planned, adding that he was unable to sleep before the fight. He told UFC on BT Sport by the ringside:
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"No, not exactly because I thought I was going to win and you know, I couldn't sleep last night and instead of doing wines I was doing lines just to stay up.
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"They got me one of these (bottle of wine) and I probably should have had it maybe I would have slept better.
"Yes it didn't go the way I wanted it but dareto be great, you know the critics are on the sidelines but I am the one putting my life on the line."
When asked if he regretted moving up to the next ladder in the sports, the Stylebender insisted that:
"I don't have any reason to question my reason to move up, that was just my legs being fatigues. I don't know what from but I have to watch the tape.
"I knew what I had to do and I was trying to do, besides, they played a fast one blocking my techniques but my techniques could have been a lot more finer, it made me look like I had a bodyguard but I promise you, it was like a bad day in the gym except its in the office tonight.
"This is not a one-off, I have to be back but like I said, dare to be great. Thank you all, eyin gbogbo Naija (all of you in Nigeria) and everyone rooting for me, thanks for the support, like I said, dare to be great, but for now, back to the gym."
Legit.ng earlier reported that Jan Blachowicz became the first man to defeat Israel Adesanya at UFC 259 light heavyweight contest in Las Vegas.
All three judges gave the contest to the Polish fighter after dominating the majority of the rounds as it went the distance.
Israel is now 21-1 as his quest to become a two-division champion came crashing after he faced a much heavier and experienced Blachowicz.
Oluwatomiwa is a sports editor with Legit.ng. He has over eight years of field and office experience in the media industry. He graduated from the Nigerian Institute of Journalism in 2014 with HND in Mass Communication. Connect with him on Twitter @TomiwaBabalola.
Source: Legit.ng
