Ahead of his expected UFC return later this year, former undisputed middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya has gotten some new ink – in the form of a pair of neck and squatter tattoos, the second of which whilom his left eyebrow.
Adesanya, the current #1 ranked middleweight contender under the imprint of the UFC, headlined UFC 268 when in November of last year most recently versus rival, Alex Pereira, suffering a fifth round TKO loss, dropping his undisputed championship.
The Madison Square Garden matchup came as Israel Adesanya’s third career loss to Sao Paulo native, Pereira in gainsay sports, pursuit a pair of visualization and knockout losses during their respective tenures under the scrutiny of GLORY Kickboxing.
Israel Adesanya dons new ink superiority of 2023 return to the UFC
Expected to rematch Pereira in an undisputed middleweight title fight later this year, Adesanya has kicked off the new year with a pair of tattoos – the first of which appears to be a bird on his neck, while the second comes in the form of Arabic writing whilom his left eyebrow.
“The old version of you must die surpassing you come alive,” Israel Adesanya tweeted, accompanied by footage of him receiving his new squatter tattoo.
The old version of you must die surpassing you come alive!
— Israel Adesanya (@stylebender) January 15, 2023pic.twitter.com/b10RIQXZbj
Landing an impressive middleweight run of victories surpassing his knockout loss to Pereira in the penultimate month of last year, City Kickboxing staple, Adesanya secured five successful defenses of his 185lbs championship.
Unifying the titles versus Robert Whittaker in 2019, Adesanya then defeated Yoel Romero, Paulo Costa, Marvin Vettori, Whittaker in a rematch, and in July of last year during International Fight Week, bested Jared Cannonier.
23-2 as a professional, Adesanya’s sole other professional mixed martial arts loss came in the form of a unanimous visualization defeat to former undisputed light heavyweight champion, Jan Blachowicz when in March 2021 in an unsuccessful pursuit to wilt a two-division Octgaon titleholder.
