Isreal Adesanya suffered his first professional defeat to Jan Blachowicz at the UFC 259 light heavyweight championship staged in Las Vegas on Sunday.
The ‘Stylebender’ bowed to his Polish opponent in the fifth round through a unanimous decision as all three judges announced Blachowicz as the winner with a scorecard of 49–46, 49–45, 49–45 at the end of the bout.
Adesanya reacting to the setback, insisted the fight didn’t go as planned, adding that he was unable to get some sleep before the fight.
“No, not exactly because I thought I was going to win and you know, I couldn’t sleep last night and instead of doing wines I was doing lines just to stay up,” Adesanya told UFC on BT Sport by the ringside.
“They got me one of these (bottle of wine) and I probably should have had it maybe I would have slept better.
“Yes it didn’t go the way I wanted it but dare to be great, you know the critics are on the sidelines but I am the one putting my life on the line.”
When asked if he regretted moving up to the next ladder in the sports, the Stylebender insisted that: “I don’t have any reason to question my reason to move up, that was just my legs being fatigues. I don’t know what from but I have to watch the tape.
“I knew what I had to do and I was trying to do, besides, they played a fast one blocking my techniques but my techniques could have been a lot more finer, it made me look like I had a bodyguard but I promise you, it was like a bad day in the gym except its in the office tonight.
“This is not a one-off, I have to be back but like I said, dare to be great. Thank you all, eyin gbogbo Naija (all of you in Nigeria) and everyone rooting for me, thanks for the support, like I said, dare to be great, but for now, back to the gym.”
