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Israel Adesanya's head coach Eugene Bareman recently revealed that he wasn't bothered by the stoppage of his pupil's fight against Alex Pereira at UFC 281.
'The Last Stylebender' dropped his 185-pound strap to kickboxing rival Alex Pereira at the recently concluded pay-per-view event at Madison Square Garden in New York. Adesanya, who was graceful in defeat, has maintained his stance that the fight was prematurely stopped, claiming that he has seen "worse stoppages."
During a recent interview with Combat TV, Eugene Bareman, a close confidant and head coach of Adesanya, detailed why he felt it wasn't an early stoppage:
"I can't sit here and truthfully say that was an early stoppage. I'm happy with the stoppage personally. I thought Israel was in trouble. Of all my experience that I've had in the sport, I saw some signs that he was in trouble."
Furthermore, he stated that referee Marc Goddard did the right thing by intervening and calling an end to the fight:
"I felt that prolonging the fight longer than when Marc Goddard stopped it would've ended up not good for Israel's health. So, I'm happy with the referee's decision. At the end of the day, we live to fight another day. You never know what could've happened if that fight had been allowed to progress."
Watch the full interview below:
"We take our loss like a man" - Eugene Bareman on what he told Israel Adesanya immediately after title loss
Eugene Bareman has been in Israel Adesanya's corner throughout his illustrious multi-sport career. The pair share a beautiful comradery, and the founder of City Kickboxing has been by Adesanya's side through thick and thin.
Speaking about what he told Adesanya in the immediate aftermath of the loss to Alex Pereira at UFC 281, Bareman told Combat TV:
"I just had to reassure him that everything was okay. The fight's been stopped... I just consoled him. I just said, 'Hey brother, we've been here before. You know how we do things from here. We stand up tall, we respect the opponent, we respect the opposition, we take our loss like a man and we get to the middle and get his hand raised, shake his hand and move on.'"
Despite a third loss to Pereira, Israel Adesanya is hell-bent on gaining a victory over 'Poatan'. In his words, "the war wages on!"
