Former Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight
king Israel
Adesanya is going in a new direction.
Posting a video on his personal YouTube channel on Thursday titled
“I'm Leaving
CKB,†Adesanya explained that he was doing just that: departing
the confines of Auckland, New Zealand-based camp City Kickboxing.
The 36-year-old ex-kickboxer has fallen on hard times as of late,
dropping four straight, although two of his last four outings were
for his old middleweight title.
The split came effective May 20, per “The Last Stylebender,†who
does so a little under two months after losing to Joe Pyfer by
knockout in the UFC Seattle headliner. Per the fighter, he needed a
fresh start, and most importantly, personalized training instead of
being in a room full of top-ranked athletes who all vie for
attention from the coaches. Adesanya claimed it had been brewing
for a while, and that he still mourns the absence of the team as a
main part of his life.
I am not coming back to City Kickboxing
Adesanya stated, “So [Wednesday, May 20], I spoke to [head coach]
Eugene [Bareman] face-to-face, and I told him I am not coming back
to CKB,†Adesanya opened with in his video. “This was something a
long time coming behind the scenes, and we have an understanding. I
won't lie; it sucks.â€
He continued, “Grief comes in waves for me. For most people, I've
grieved before, so this, it comes in waves. I've had great days,
but also there's days where I'm like [exasperated sigh]. And it's a
long time coming, I just want to get it out [of] the way because I
want you to hear from the horse's mouth because no one else has
spoken about it. I guess those who know are waiting for the ball to
drop, so [motions a ball dropping] I dropped the ball.â€
The former champion was simultaneously gracious for those that
helped him grow over the years and crestfallen that it was the end
of an era.
“It's bittersweet,†he admitted, “but it's the right thing for me.
Especially where I am at in my career, it's exactly what I needed.
Insanity is doing the same s–t and expecting different results,
so…I think that's it, I just don't want to talk about it. It's
something like I said that sucks, I want to grieve in peace.â€
Having a bit more to get out after all, the Nigerian-born athlete
carried on, saying, “[If] people want to bring it up, that's cool,
don't ask me about it…2009 is when I first went to CKB, 2010 is
when I moved over, and I established myself in Auckland to train at
CKB. CKB made me into the fighter that I am today. They've trained
a lot of great fighters. Greats, even better than myself, but me as
an individual, CKB made me into the fighter that I am today. But
also, I was one of the main pillars who put CKB on the map on the
world stage. To take it to the next level, where people from all
over the world want to come train at CKB, and I'm proud of
that.â€
The former Glory kickboxing title challenger thanked a number of
people who helped him over the years, not limited to coach Bareman
and fellow fighters Cameron
Rowston, Brogan
Anderson and kickboxer Doug Viney.
Above all, he knows exactly what he needs in his next camp, and
that is the personal attention of a coach who can help straighten
out any issues that come up as they happen.
“What I need for myself is [holds hands pensively] focused,
individual training. So, I've made the decision to leave CKB for my
own reasons, and yeah. I'll leave it at that,†Adesanya
concluded.
The
Professional Fighters League has finalized the lineup for its
July 31 event at UBS Arena in Long Island, New York, featuring an
11-bout card headlined by a lightweight title fight.
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PFL New York is headlined by Usman
Nurmagomedov vs. Archie
Colgan. The card also features several notable matchups across
the main and preliminary cards.
PFL New York: All the details
PFL New York will see undefeated champion Nurmagomedov (21-0)
defend his lightweight crown against unbeaten contender Colgan
(13-0) in the main event.
In the co-headliner, top-ranked women’s flyweight Dakota
Ditcheva (15-0) returns after more than a year on the sidelines
against Denise
Kielholtz (9-5) in a bout with significant title implications
at 125 pounds.
The main card also includes a light heavyweight matchup between
Dovletdzhan
Yagshimuradov (26-8-1) and Simeon
Powell (12-2), while unbeaten lightweight prospect Amru
Magomedov (10-0) squares off against Angel
Alvarez (11-2).
The preliminary card is topped by a bantamweight clash between
Raufeon
Stots (21-4) and unbeaten Lazaro
Dayron (10-0-1). Elsewhere, Jonathan
Piersma (12-3) faces Omar El
Dafrawy (15-6) in a 175-pound catchweight contest, Sean Gauci
(11-1) faces Allan
Begosso (10-4-1) at bantamweight and unbeaten light heavyweight
prospects Moustapha
Diakhate (5-0-1) and Zacharia
Nishimwe (4-0) are also set to collide.
A lightweight
title fight headlines PFL NY: Tune on Friday, July 31 at 7 p.m. ET
on ESPN.
Other scheduled matchups include a light heavyweight bout between
undefeated Khabib
Nabiev (12-0) and Jamelle
Jones (15-8), a women’s flyweight contest featuring Montana
De La Rosa (13-9-1) against unbeaten Tatiana
Postarnakova (7-0) and a lightweight matchup pitting Chamy Delva
(7-1) against Levan
Khabalaev (4-0).
The prelims begin at 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT on ESPN App, with the main
card airing at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT on ESPN.
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(@pflmma)
Makhachev recently gave two young men a stylistic makeover. He
started by taking off one's necklace and the other's bracelet. The
Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight champion then
cropped off their curly locks of hair with a trimmer. The Dagestani
assured them that the new hairdo suited them better.
Islam Makhachev's Dagestan team tradition returns ahead of UFC
330
The close crop hairstyle is mandatory in Khabib
Nurmagomedov's team. The rule was laid down by the UFC Hall of
Famer's late father, Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, who initially honed
the entire team in the mountains of Dagestan. Notably, Makhachev
had once been thrown out of the gym for having long hair.
Makhachev took to his Instagram Stories to showcase the only
hairstyle permitted in the team.
“Today, for these two brothers, we make good haircut. I swear you
look better.â€
Khabib also posted a video of his protege trimming their hair.
Makhachev shared Nurmagomedov's post with the caption:
“They didn't have to go to Dagestan. Dagestan came for them.â€
Makhachev (28-1) is scheduled to defend his welterweight title for
the first time against Ian Garry
(17-1) at UFC
330 on Aug. 15 at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia.
Islam
Makhachev made two guys at their gym cut their hair
“I swear you look better.” 😠pic.twitter.com/PQXA3dDOSH
F1 star Lewis
Hamilton was very disappointed with Jon Jones for
an unexpected reason.
The former
Ultimate Fighting Championship double champ recently recalled
an incident that led Hamilton to unfollow and block him on social
media. Jones had joined Army Rangers on a hunting trip from a
helicopter with rifles. He even managed to shoot a pig, which was
donated to an underprivileged family. However. Hamilton was
disappointed with Jones' way of hunting.
Jon Jones explains how Lewis Hamilton reacted to his helicopter
pig hunt and why the F1 icon cut ties on social media
Hamilton called Jones a “coward†for shooting the animal from a
helicopter. The former F1 champ believes that animals should be
hunted traditionally with spears or arrows, to give them a fighting
chance.
“I went hunting years ago with a bunch of Army Rangers and we ended
up hunting pigs from a helicopter using AR-15s,†Jones told ALF
Global. “I was so proud of myself because I killed one of the pigs
from the helicopter and my pig was donated to an underprivileged
family in the community. But Lewis saw me shoot the pig from the
helicopter. And he wrote me a long message saying that I was a
coward. And that he thought that I was better than that. He said
that the traditional way of killing an animal should be with a
spear or with a bow and an arrow. He wrote something like, ‘Only a
coward could shoot an animal from a helicopter. Give the animal a
chance to fight you back at least.'â€
Hamilton subsequently unfollowed and blocked Jones on social media.
The latter has now offered an apology to the legendary Brit.
“He unfollowed me and he blocked me and it sucked because I was his
fan,†Jones added. “I was a fan of him, but he was very
disappointed in me for shooting the pig. Lewis, if you're
listening, I'm sorry.â€
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