Israel Adesanya lost to Nassourdine Imavov on Saturday, and the defeat had fans saying the same thing.
Imavov beat Adesanya via second-round TKO in their middleweight bout in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The TKO was called just 30 seconds into the second round and happened after Adesanya had been poked in the eye and waved off the referee. Imavov then caught him with a huge right hand that sent the Stylebender to the cage. Imavov pounced with several punches, and the referee came in to stop the fight, giving Imavov the win.
The defeat marked Adesanya’s third in a row and fourth in five fights. The way he went down so quickly had fans saying the same thing – Adesanya is washed up.
Adesanya officially washed I guess.
— Joe Osborne (@JTFOz) February 1, 2025
Watching Izzy get knocked out like that, just confirms he’s washed 🤦♂️ pic.twitter.com/b57fEgRDTV
— Mareeezy (@memestar214) February 1, 2025
Israel Adesanya is washed.I was in denial but I have accepted now
— Dehkunle 🧸 (@Dehkunle) February 1, 2025
Izzy is washed I’m done my goat is done.. shameless.
— SCHEME (@DJSCHEME_) February 1, 2025
Adesanya is washed huh? #ufc pic.twitter.com/aTOUayVwOb
— Loopy Goldberg (@ARizzler917) February 1, 2025
Seeing Adesanya go down was tough even for fellow MMA ighter Dillon Danis.
Man, that was tough to watch. Israel Adesanya is a legend. That one really hit me in the feels for some reason.
— Dillon Danis (@dillondanis) February 1, 2025
Adesanya is 24-5 in his professional MMA career. He was a sensation after beginning his career 20-0 before finally losing to Jan Blachowicz in 2021. Adesanya still won three more fights in a row after that. But age may now be catching up to the 35-year-old, as it tends to do to everyone.