Israel Adesanya channeling a 'freedom' at UFC Saudi Arabia that's been missing for a long time

Israel Adesanya is embarking on a new chapter.

As the cliche goes, sustaining a championship reign is more difficult than starting one, but only in the rarest of cases do certain fighters become synonymous with title tilts. Training for five rounds consistently against the most formidable challengers possible adds to the pressure cooker that already comes with the main-event spotlight, however, Adesanya wasted little time finding a home there when he arrived in the UFC as a decorated kickboxer seven years ago. And once he did, it became all he knew.

From early 2019 up until the moment he makes that walk Saturday night, "The Last Stylebender" saw the world only through gold-tinted lenses, making history in numerous ways by competing in a dozen consecutive UFC title fights. That streak ends at UFC Saudi Arabia with Adesanya's first non-title bout in a half-decade, as he hopes to snap his first MMA losing streak at the expense of Nassourdine Imavov.

"When I get there, I put the pressure on myself, but without the belt being on the line, there's an element of freedom that I haven't felt in a while," Adesanya told Uncrowned.

"I'm anticipating what [that freedom] is going to feel like in the Octagon."

If freedom is power in combat, then Adesanya's limits exceed 9000.

The former two-time UFC middleweight champion boasts a 14-0 MMA record in non-title bouts. That stretch of flawlessness eventually bled into his first title reign, which capped at 20-0 before loss No. 1 — a failed light heavyweight title attempt against Jan Blachowicz in March 2021.

Any unbeaten run in combat sports is uniquely impressive. Reaching 20 in a row, especially at the highest levels of the UFC, is rarely seen, which further speaks to the newfound freedom Adesanya touts.

"I was never worried about losing, but you can feel it at certain points," Adesanya acknowledged. "There were just certain points in my career where I knew — like the [Paulo] Costa fight [in 2020]. We were both undefeated, I was the champion, and it was like, 'Oh s***, someone's zero has got to go.'

"That was the most I felt that kind of pressure."

Although the spotlight has dimmed from his championship run to what he faces next, Adesanya is no stranger to channeling lesser stakes into highlight-reel moments. In the ultimate test of mark-making, his early days in combat sports took him to China's prominent Wu Lin Feng promotion. Over the course of numerous bouts until 2016, Adesanya proved himself to the Chinese fans after initially being brought in to be the invading enemy. Because before "The Last Stylebender" there was "The Black Dragon."

"I enjoyed those times in my career," Adesanya said, "I guess the low-key anonymity I had at the time. I enjoyed traveling. Those days, not a care in the world, a lot of money in my pocket. It was good times."

The journey into foreign territory was fruitful for Adesanya, helping him hone his current focus and ability to ignore outside noise.

Over the years, plenty of stories have been told about the Chinese combat sports regional scene and the recurrence of favoritism for the nation's fighters in matchmaking. Even for a combatant of Adesanya's previous experience, he wasn't immune to similar treatment — until he became undeniable.

"The Chinese, they're very patriotic, and I was sent over there to be a journeyman for their guys to whoop on," Adesanya said. "Just like basketball teams or football teams, you trade jerseys, kind of like that, 'This guy's too good, we need to have him on our side because he's beating our best guys.' That's how I became 'Chinese.'

"Even, f***, those kind of things, I wasn't thinking about it back then, but it's funny because people think that's real. I was reading a script, and I just thought like, 'Oh, whatever.' I didn't think that far ahead, but I mean, now it's funny for the trolls. So I guess, yeah, I am Chinese in that sense.

"You can't beat 'em, join 'em — or I beat them, so they made me join them," he added, laughing. "Recruited me, then made me the highest — at the time — foreign contract in the fighting scene in China."

All these years later, Adesanya's career as a pro fighter is finally beginning to wind down. He's been there and done that while remaining one of the best at 185 pounds. So what more is there to do?

Fun fights? Continue a push toward a third title reign?

A combination of both?

Imavov comes first. As long as Adesanya does his job and gets his hand raised, everything he needs will find its way — whether that takes a little sharpening from that patented self-pressure or not.

"Everything else is just a distraction," Adesanya said. "I never even focused on the belt. I knew I wanted it, and it chases me, so it won't be any different this time.

"That's why I put the pressure on myself. Without the belt being on the line, it's just, I am an entity of my own apart from being Israel Adesanya. I feed a lot of people. I like to keep the people that support me fed. Right now, everybody's eating, so I just want to show off."