“I feel, honestly, God forbid if I lose my next 10 fights, it wouldn’t affect my legacy.” Israel Adesanya said those words before stepping into the Octagon for his first non-title bout in over five years. Confident? Absolutely. But for someone as spiritual as Izzy, it almost feels like he unknowingly spoke his fate into existence, because, well, God did not forbid it. Instead, he walked out of the cage with his third back-to-back loss and a whole lot of questions about what comes next. For the first time in his career, Adesanya is looking at a losing streak. And not just a bump in the road, an actual, undeniable, momentum-halting streak.

And while some fighters might brush it off, a source close to the former champ, Chael Sonnen, confirms Adesanya isn’t just disappointed. He’s hurt. “I watched him after this fight… on the internet, social media, and he is hurt. He is very hurt, as a person,” Sonnen said on Good Guy/Bad Guy with Daniel Cormier. “And I don’t want him to be. I want him to understand, this has been the cherry on top of the sundae for years now.” Sonnen, ever the analyst, points out that Adesanya’s career is already a stack of historic moments. “He set a record against Whittaker the first time they fought in Australia—57,000 live in attendance, that has never been broken by the way. That’s the record that is still the record.”

Oh, and let’s not forget that this is the same Adesanya who stood toe-to-toe with Kelvin Gastelum in one of the greatest fights in UFC history. That five-round war at UFC 236 wasn’t just about winning the interim title, it was about proving he had the heart of a champion. And he did. So, this KO loss handed by Nassourdine Imavov doesn’t erase everything Adesanya has accomplished. But it does change the narrative. A few years ago, ‘The Last Stylebender’ was untouchable. Now, he’s the guy getting touched up by fighters who wouldn’t have lasted a round with him in his prime. That’s not just an opinion; it’s the brutal reality of aging in MMA.

Is Israel Adesanya giving in to the harsh truth of MMA?

Is this the beginning of a downward spiral? Maybe. But Israel Adesanya doesn’t seem ready to go full Anderson Silva and start collecting losses like Infinity Stones.  Because, if you thought Adesanya was going to disappear after this, you clearly don’t know the man. Just hours after the fight, he hit social media with a shredded photo of himself, captioning it, “I will not get fat. x1000.”

A strange takeaway from a devastating loss? Perhaps. But if there’s one thing Izzy fears more than losing, it’s getting out of shape. The man has joked for years about his paranoia of gaining weight during downtime, and this post was his way of reminding everyone, setbacks don’t mean slacking off. Adesanya has always been a fighter who thrives on proving people wrong. This is the guy who avenged his losses in style. Just ask Alex Pereira, who had two wins over Izzy in kickboxing and even stole his UFC middleweight belt. But when it mattered most, Adesanya came back at UFC 287 and knocked him out cold in the second round.

The UFC’s Saudi Arabia return was meant to be the Nigerian’s chance to remind everyone who he is. Instead, it became a moment of reckoning. Like Chael Sonnen rightly pointed out, “He’s got so many things that he did so well, that if he gets punched in the face and falls down here or there, man, it’s not part of his story.”  And knowing Izzy, he’s already plotting.

Will he take time off? Will he jump straight back into a high-stakes fight? Or dare we say it, will he get fat? What do you think? Let us know in the comments below!