Israel Adesanya‘s name is synonymous with the word ‘headliner’ as he returns to headline yet another UFC card. This time, the former 185lbs kingpin battles Nassourdine Imavov at UFC Fight Night 250 in Saudi Arabia. However, it is the first time in almost six years that the Nigerian-born Kiwi star would be competing in a non-title fight. But it doesn’t seem like Adesanya is affected by it because he’s on a mission ahead of his return.

Izzy might have lost his belt and a chance to redeem it, but is certainly in conversation as the greatest middleweight ever. He has captured the 185-pound belt twice and is the only middleweight fighter to achieve that feat. However, ‘Izzy’ claims that he’s still making adjustments and growing as a fighter more with each passing day, even in the final phase of his fighting career, given that he’s 35 years old.

“For me, it’s just proving to myself that I’m still that dude. I know I’m one of the best, if not the best, but I still feel like I’m improving,” Israel Adesanya told ‘MMA Junkie’. “I see the work that I do, I feel the work that I do and I just wanna show the world the work that I’m doing.”

For the first time, Adesanya is on a losing streak in his MMA career. With two losses on the trot, there could be a chance that he records another defeat in Saudi Arabia. Well, that doesn’t worry the former 2-time champion because he treats every fight the same way.

“I’m not focused on those kinds of numbers [about possibly losing three consecutive fights]. For me, it’s just another fight, a new opponent, a new body to exchange with and he’s [Imavov] really good. So yeah, I look forward to taking care of him,” Adesanya added. With that said, ‘The Last Stylebender’ seems to be telling the truth about the improvement part because he recently joined hands with a former rival ahead of his fight against Nassourdine Imavov.

Robert Whittaker joins Israel Adesanya to help him ahead of his UFC return

Robert Whittaker recently made his debut on Israel Adesanya’s YouTube channel. The duo and former rivals shared a breakdown of UFC 311 and they showcased a real good chemistry with each other. ‘Izzy’, who called ‘The Reaper’ his “brother” in a social media post, also appeared to be training with the Australian ace. However, this wasn’t Adesanya’s brainchild. In actuality, Whittaker and his coach hit up City Kickboxing to train with them as they were looking for ‘high-level’ fighters.

“We were just lacking in bodies so I sat down with my coaches and we kind of hashing out what the plan would be moving forward and we were like, we could bring guys here, we could do this, we could do that and then we started looking at global,” Robert Whittaker told Ariel Helwani. “We remembered City Kickboxing…Izzy’s there, Carlos is there, Hooker is there, they have high-level guys.”

Well, it remains to be seen if Israel Adesanya can avoid a third straight defeat and get back to the title scene following UFC Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, let us know what you think in the comments down below.