Michael Bisping: Israel Adesanya's UFC championship days 'more than likely' over

Michael Bisping doesn’t expect to see Israel Adesanya in the UFC title picture again.

Although Bisping thought Adesanya (24-4 MMA, 13-4 UFC) looked good in his submission loss to middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis on Saturday at UFC 305, he doesn’t think he’ll be competing in anymore championship fights. Adesanya’s past 12 appearances have been UFC title bouts, but he has now lost three of his past four.

“He looked great, he had moments of brilliance, certainly in Round 3 when he was piecing Dricus Du Plessis up on the feet,” Bisping said on his YouTube channel. “Ripping to the body, beautiful shots delivered with perfect technique, but ultimately he lost the fight. We’ve got to ask the question: Is Izzy done? Are his championship days over? Because the answer to that one is more than likely probably.

“It’s a tough reality. Fight sports is a b*tch. They don’t care. Israel Adesanya had moments of brilliance. He looked really good and looked to be in great shape. He had a bit more muscle on him. He took this fight seriously. He went out there and got beat. The last one, he got beat against Sean Strickland. Two fights before that, he lost to Alex Pereira.”

Bisping pointed at a few examples of fighters that fought past their prime like Chuck Liddell, Tony Ferguson, and B.J. Penn. He still thinks Adesanya has it but hopes “The Last Stylebender” doesn’t wind up doing the same by prolonging his career.

“When you look at the history, when you look at the track record, Israel Adesanya has now lost three out of his last four fights,” Bisping added. “That is a far cry from the championship run that he went on where he was stopping everybody, defending the belt in 12 consecutive title fights. That’s an insane amount of pressure, stress on the body.

“Physically and mentally, a big burden to carry. Five-round training camps, one after the other. … But is the career coming to a close for Isreal Adesanya? Yeah probably because you only have one peak; you don’t have two. That’s why it’s called the peak. And when you look throughout combat sports history, it’s what always happens.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 305.