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Former UFC champion Israel Adesanya (37) fired up his will to play despite the four-game losing streak. Joe Piper, 30, who brought him down, confessed that he had suffered severe mental distress.
U.S. "Fox Sports" stressed on the 30th (Korea Standard Time) that UFC middleweight legend Israel Adesanya has no plans to retire for the time being despite losing to Joe Piper. Piper, the winner, left a courageous confession after the game."
UFC middleweight No. 4 Adesanya lost to 14th-ranked Piper in 4 minutes and 18 seconds in the second round in the main event of "UFC Fight Night: Adesanya vs Piper" at Climot Pleasure Arena in Seattle, Washington on the 29th.
Six-year-old Adesanya has been mired in a four-game losing streak without a win for the third year in a row. On the other hand, 29-year-old Piper booked a career-high 16 wins and 3 losses and a place in the top four middleweight rankings with this victory. He will also have the title match against champion Hamzat Chimaev in sight.
Adesanya is not ready to take off her gloves yet. "We expected the best version of Piper," he said. It wasn't surprising because I knew this was the biggest game in his career," he said, acknowledging his opponent, "I wanted to feel like I had a real fight, but he did just that."
He said, "We will continue to move forward. I never leave. You will never stop me," he said, strongly expressing his willingness to return.
Piper, the winner, gave a heavy resonance through an interview after the game. He confessed to fighting serious mental health problems. Piper said, "It was as if I had foreseen that this moment was going to happen. "Just a few weeks ago, I almost killed myself," he said with tears in his eyes. He said, "God restored me, and that's the only reason I'm here now," and was thrilled.
He didn't forget his respect for his opponent. "I knew my firepower was stronger, so I kept trying to put pressure on it," Piper said, but added, "Adesanya is one of the most intelligent champions of all time and the best middleweight player. I support him no matter what he does in the future," he said.
The game was a reversal for Piper. Adesanya showed sharpness early in the game, defending and hitting several takedown attempts. However, after being shocked by Piper's left hook, the flow went over. Piper shook Adesanya wide with a powerful body shot and a heavy light punch, eventually succeeding in a takedown to occupy the back position. Adesanya defended the choke attempt but collapsed after failing to withstand the pouring ground and pounds.
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*This content was translated by AI.
