Israel Adesanya went on to have five successful title defenses before losing it to Alex Pereira at UFC 281. However, he bounced back stronger to reclaim the title and become the first middleweight fighter to hold the division’s gold twice.
‘The Last Stylebender’ mentioned his passionate speech on the recent episode of the ‘Impaulsive’ podcast. He stated how elated he felt after finally knocking out his arch-rival, having lost in the previous three encounters.
Adesanya was aware of that and mentioned how his actions could have proved detrimental to Rogan if he had chosen to say something that the UFC wouldn’t have liked.
He kept it clean and shared a message that would inspire many fans from all over the world. Adesanya added, “I could have been like, I could have said something stupid and they’re [the UFC] like, ‘Get him off the mic.'”
Rogan had also paid a tribute to Adesanya via an Instagram post. He wrote how honored he was to witness the fight live and called Adesanya “great and powerful.”