Behind Israel Adesanya‘s success as a kickboxing and MMA champion is his coach, Eugene Bareman. The two share a very close bond, and it’s safe to assume that Adesanya looks up to him like an older brother. The famed City Kickboxing gym head coach is perhaps the best MMA coach in New Zealand currently, having trained the likes of ‘Izzy’, Alexander Volkanovski, and Dan Hooker.

According to Adesanya, Bareman’s relentless, ruthlessness, and belief in him are “the reason I’m where I am today”. Unsurprisingly, the former middleweight champ thinks that Bareman is the “best coach in the world”. And one of the reasons he is such a good coach is not just because he is a good trainer or good at strategizing and game planning, but also because of his emotional investment in his fighters. At least that is what his message and confession ahead of Adesanya’s UFC Saudi Arabia clash against Nassourdine Imavov today makes it seem.

“Izz you turned it around. The coaches know that last fight is a real hole at heart because we just knew he hadn’t done the work and we asked you to flip that and you did. So the feeling through the whole camp and the whole fight week is completely different than last time. Its confidence, confidence from all the coaching team and Izz, thank you,” a visibly emotional Bareman could be seen telling a moved Adesanya in a video.

Of course, the ‘last fight’ Bareman is talking about is Adesanya’s UC 305 clash against middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis, which ‘Izzy’ lost in the fourth round. While the coach admitted that Adesanya didn’t really prepare as well as Bareman and Co. wanted, he still looked pretty good. In fact, Adesanya was piecing up ‘DDP’ in the very round that he was submitted by the South African. This makes one wonder – if that was a not-well-prepared version of Adesanya, how good would a fully prepared Adesanya look against Imavov? To be fair, ‘The Last Stylebender’ better be prepared for this fight given how much is on the line against Imavov.

Why the stakes of the Imavov fight are so high for Israel Adesanya

Israel Adesanya has lost three out of his last four fights which is a huge slide for a man who once looked nigh unbeatable not too long ago. But to be fair to ‘Izzy’, there are some mitigating factors, and most fans, well, excuse those losses. Du Plessis just got the better of him, even as Adesanya looked pretty good in that fight.

The loss to Sean Strickland was down to the American’s style being kryptonite for Adesanya’s, while the Alex Pereira loss was down to, well, it being Alex Pereira and their shared history. But, if the Nigerian-born Kiwi loses to Nassourdine Imaov tonight, that would be really really hard to excuse.

There will undoubtedly be chatter about Adesanya being past his prime and not having it anymore. Since ‘Izzy’ turns 36 this year, fans will undoubtedly also talk about him being too old and having lost the lightning-quick reflexes and legendary speed he was famous for. In short, he will be written off by many if he loses this fight, and will have a much longer road back to the title than if he wins. What do you think about Bareman’s message for ‘The Last Stylebender’ ahead of the Imavov fight?