Israel Adesanya hits out at "peanut head" manager over Kamaru Usman fight claim
MMA manager Ali Abdelaziz said UFC middleweight champion Adesanya and pound-for-pound No.1 Usman, who are close friends, should fight each other
By Harry Davies Boxing and MMA writer
15:52, 17 Feb 2022

Israel Adesanya has criticised MMA manager Ali Abdelaziz after he suggested Kamaru Usman should fight the middleweight champion.

Abdelaziz suggested welterweight champion Usman, who is managed by Dominance MMA, should defend his belt against Leon Edwards and then move up to fight Adesanya.

Adesanya and Usman, who were both born in Nigeria, are good friends and have ruled out the possibility of fighting each other in the UFC.

Fresh off of his recent UFC 271 title defence, Adesanya couldn't see why Abdelaziz would suggest the matchup as both fighters can make big paydays with other opponents.

"It bothers me as well. Like what the f*** is this peanut head talking about? I've gone on record and said I don't like this fight," Adesanya said on 'The MMA Hour '.


Israel Adesanya hit out at Ali Abdelaziz ( Image: Zuffa LLC)

"It's bigger than us. I understand where he's coming from. Don't get me wrong... but you can make tens of millions other ways.

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"There's so many other fights you can make. He needs to give his fighters his phone back, cause sometimes he gets on there [social media] and talk all this rubbish.

"This fight, it's bigger than us. The great nation of Africa, we've got three people who are champions right now and defending it within their divisions with an iron black fist."

Usman was so against the idea of fighting Adesanya he even considered jumping up two weight classes to face Jan Blachowicz, who at the time was the light heavyweight champion.

'The Nigerian Nightmare' would have had the chance to become a two-weight champion if he fought then-champion Blachowicz.

But it was Adesanya who moved up to face the hard-hitting Polish fighter, suffering the first loss of his professional career to him.

Usman recently underwent hand surgery and is expected to return to the octagon in July to defend his belt against No.3 ranked contender Leon Edwards.

'The Last Stylebender' has since defended his middleweight title twice since moving back down to 185-pounds, outpointing Marvin Vettori before his win against Whittaker.

And Adesanya thinks his and Usman's story is part of "sports history" and will inspire people from Nigeria.

He continued: "This is legendary, they're gonna talk about this sports history and just in history in general. So, why try to divide and conquer?

"The way peanut head did it was just disgusting, I usually kind of express the way we do it in our gym and the code that we have.

"Like I said, me and Kamaru definitely feel the same way. What's the point? This is bigger than us, kids are gonna look at us generations from now and be like 'those guys from Nigeria, they did that'".

Mirror

Who should Israel Adesanya fight next? Religion or National? Is blood thicker than water? Who is a brother here? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

OLAADEGBU:


Who should Israel Adesanya fight next? Religion or National? Is blood thicker than water? Who is a brother here? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

i see nothing wrong in both Nigerians having a bout inasmuch as no respect is lost. But, since the two fighters are against such... 'Peanut head' should just fogerrit.

Adesanya is right. Having two Nigerians dominating in the sport is good for the country and continent. They should coach their little brother Kennedy Nzechukwu so he can join the top 5 in the heavyweight division. Khamzat wants to face Adesanya, I can't wait to see him maul that wrestler like Ngannou did Gane. The same way Brazilians carved a niche in the sport is the very action our boys should emulate.

They don't need to fight each other to give us a good time.

dawnomike:


i see nothing wrong in both Nigerians having a bout inasmuch as no respect is lost. But, since the two fighters are against such... 'Peanut head' should just fogerrit.

I wonder what Ali Abdelaziz stands to gain if the fight happens.

suffering:


Adesanya is right. Having two Nigerians dominating in the sport is good for the country and continent. They should coach their little brother Kennedy Nzechukwu so he can join the top 5 in the heavyweight division. Khamzat wants to face Adesanya, I can't wait to see him maul that wrestler like Ngannou did Gane. The same way Brazilians carved a niche in the sport is the very action our boys should emulate.

Who has Khamzat fought to deserve the right to face Adesanya?

PlayerMeji:


They don't need to fight each other to give us a good time.

That is the point Adesanya is making but I don't think Ali Abdelaziz sees it that way.

some time money is not always the answer, the peanut head even said they can both make ten of million

Israel Adesanya.
Kamaru Usman
Anthony Joshua.

OLAADEGBU:


Who has Khamzat fought to deserve the right to face Adesanya?

He’s defeated everyone he’s faced so far and is posturing to go for Adesanya. What I like about the UFC as opposed to boxing is, once you want a title shot and the fans agree with you, Dana follows. In boxing it may take up to eight years for such to happen. In the UFC it can happen as early as December this year. Adesanya has cleaned house in the top ten ranking. Let him face a new prospect.

the manager is only seeing a very easy way of making 10m dollz n dnt care about both fightere here..

suffering:
He’s defeated everyone he’s faced so far and is posturing to go for Adesanya. What I like about the UFC as opposed to boxing is, once you want a title shot and the fans agree with you, Dana follows. In boxing it may take up to eight years for such to happen. In the UFC it can happen as early as December this year. Adesanya has cleaned house in the top ten ranking. Let him face a new prospect.

It's not like you think it to be.
Just like OLAADEGBU said, who has Khamzat fought to deserve Adesanya?

Defeating everyone he fought so far doesn't qualify him, neither do fans dictate such.

Although I think Khamzat has what it takes, yet there's a process to it.
Khamzat should fight his way to top his division first. After that we can start looking at a feasible fight with Adesanya.

At bolded, that is wrong. Adesanya is yet to clean top ten rankings in MW. He's yet to fight Jared Cannonier, and couple of similar guys and soon Alex Pereira who once knocked him out.

Gratefulheart1:

It's not like you think it to be.
Just like OLAADEGBU said, who has Khamzat fought to deserve Adesanya?

Defeating everyone he fought so far doesn't qualify him, neither do fans dictate such.

Although I think Khamzat has what it takes, yet there's a process to it.
Khamzat should fight his way to top his division first. After that we can start looking at a feasible fight with Adesanya.

At bolded, that is wrong. Adesanya is yet to clean top ten rankings in MW. He's yet to fight Jared Cannonier, and couple of similar guys and soon Alex Pereira who once knocked him out.

Khamzat has more fights in the UFC than Pereira. Saying Pereira deserves to fight Adesanya brings your suggestion back to the criticism of my comment “who has Pereira fought to deserve a shot?” Rozenstruick got a chance at the champion from a good record and eventual call out. Khamzat should do the same and the fight will happen this year. He already has a consistent win streak and the fans support it. Adesanya said it himself “I’m bored with the recent fights I’m having. I need someone to excite me.” Anyone from the MW top ten division thrown his way is nothing but food for a lion now.

suffering:
Khamzat has more fights in the UFC than Pereira. Saying Pereira deserves to fight Adesanya brings your suggestion back to the criticism of my comment “who has Pereira fought to deserve a shot?” Rozenstruick got a chance at the champion from a good record and eventual call out. Khamzat should do the same and the fight will happen this year. He already has a consistent win streak and the fans support it. Adesanya said it himself “I’m bored with the recent fights I’m having. I need someone to excite me.” Anyone from the MW top ten division thrown his way is nothing but food for a lion now.

I never said Pereira deserves to fight Izzy at the moment, he'll still have to fight his way to the top. I only mentioned him when you suggested there are no more worthy fighters Izzy can fight in Middleweight. There are still couple of guys in MW.
About your comparison, Pereira is in 185 division while Khamzat is in 170 division. New Pereira 185 is more qualified to fight Izzy 185 than new Khamzat in 170. Pereira and Izzy are in same MW division and Pereira is on watch list been the only one to knock out Izzy before. But Kamaru in 170 is more qualified to fight Izzy than Pereira in 185 because Kamaru is the present Champion of his division haven fought his way to the top. Khamzat's target now is top guys in 170 division, then finally Kamaru which is the champion of his division not Adesanya which is the champion of higher division. A student is yet to pass his class but wants to go compete in senior class, is that how things are done? No
There's a process in UFC fights, not all you're saying but you know, all these kinda Khamzat talks are only good in preparing people's mind for a future fight, same way Adesanya himself has been talking about Jon Jones since years but the fight is yet to happen, maybe later. These kinds of drama are normal in UFC except you're new or don't follow events

Cannonier is the next person to fight Izzy but he fought his way to get a title shot. The winner of Brunson vs Cannonier fight was to fight Izzy, all these things are organised.
Title fights are not what a new comer would make mouth and challenge a Champion and immediately get approved.
UFC is not disorganized and Dana doesn't have time for such. Neither will any Champion be ready to cheaply fight a new comer. Let the new comer too go through some huddles and fight to the top.

Go and read what Adesanya said about Khamzat.

Gratefulheart1:


I never said Pereira deserves to fight Izzy at the moment, he'll still have to fight his way to the top. I only mentioned him when you suggested there are no more worthy fighters Izzy can fight in Middleweight. There are still couple of guys in MW.
About your comparison, Pereira is in 185 division while Khamzat is in 170 division. New Pereira 185 is more qualified to fight Izzy 185 than new Khamzat in 170. Pereira and Izzy are in same MW division and Pereira is on watch list been the only one to knock out Izzy before. But Kamaru in 170 is more qualified to fight Izzy than Pereira in 185 because Kamaru is the present Champion of his division haven fought his way to the top. Khamzat's target now is top guys in 170 division, then finally Kamaru which is the champion of his division not Adesanya which is the champion of higher division. A student is yet to pass his class but wants to go compete in senior class, is that how things are done? No
There's a process in UFC fights, not all you're saying but you know, all these kinda Khamzat talks are only good in preparing people's mind for a future fight, same way Adesanya himself has been talking about Jon Jones since years but the fight is yet to happen, maybe later. These kinds of drama are normal in UFC except you're new or don't follow events

Cannonier is the next person to fight Izzy but he fought his way to get a title shot. The winner of Brunson vs Cannonier fight was to fight Izzy, all these things are organised.
Title fights are not what a new comer would make mouth and challenge a Champion and immediately get approved.
UFC is not disorganized and Dana doesn't have time for such. Neither will any Champion be ready to cheaply fight a new comer. Let the new comer too go through some huddles and fight to the top.

Go and read what Adesanya said about Khamzat.

Cannonier will get chewed out in the upcoming bout. Izzy has no competition in middleweight.