UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya has shut down a mouth-watering fight with compatriot and welterweight champion, Kamaru Usman.
The last Last Stylebender as he is popularly called said the relationship between himself and Kamaru is “bigger than money.”
In an interview with TSN, Adesanya said “Kamaru can speak for himself and he has, and I’ve spoken for myself and we said we wouldn’t fight each other. For me personally, it’s bigger than money,” adding that, he has nothing to gain from it.
He further said, he could train together with Kamaru but to fight him in public is not something he would do. “I understand what Kamaru says about competing because yeah we could do that. Come to the gym you’ll see me and Dan Hooker, me and Carlos Ulberg, me and Blood Diamond compete against each other”
“So me and Kamaru can do that, but for the world to see, it’s bigger than money. It’s not just about money. It’s about our nation, taking gold back to where it belongs,” Adesanya added whilst lashing out at Ali who he claimed was greedy for chasing the bag. “Ali is just greedy. He sees dollar signs, but I’m like you can make that money elsewhere. But he’s just super greedy and for me, it’s bigger than money.”
Adesanya made a final request to have all three of the African kings ruling the UFC’s various positions in one image. “I’m still looking to capture that image of me, Kamaru and Francis [Ngannou]as the three kings because we haven’t done that yet together.” He said. Francis from Cameroon is the current UFC heavyweight champion.
The Last Stylebender will defend his UFC middleweight title against ‘Bobby Knuckles’ on Saturday night this weekend (or early on Sunday morning Nigerian time) in the main event of UFC 271 in Houston, Texas.
