Eugene Bareman claims concussion suffered by Israel Adesanya at UFC 293 led to title loss in Australia
City Kickboxing head coach, Eugene Bareman has theorized that his student, Israel Adesanya likely suffered a concussion the opening round of his UFC 293 title fight with Sean Strickland earlier this month, likely leading to his eventual unanimous decision upset defeat.
Adesanya, a former two-time undisputed middleweight champion under the promotion’s banner, headlined UFC 293 earlier htis month in Sydney, Australia, suffering a unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 48-47) loss to outspoken challenger and massive underdog, Strickland.
Dropped for the first time officially in his illustrious and gold-laden Octagon tenure, Nigerian-Kiwi striker, Adesanya would go on to struggle to mount offense against a technically and defensively-sound, Strickland for the remaining four rounds, dropping his championship belt for the second time in the space of a year.
Eugene Bareman believes Israel Adesanya suffered concussion at UFC 293
And expecting a title rematch immediately – which he believes Adesanya can most definitely prevail in, the above-mentioned, Bareman has suggested the former suffered a fight-alterting concussion in the opening round of his fight with Strickland.
“I thought he (Israel Adesanya) did really well with the knockdown and coming back from it but I have no doubt that anybody who’s actually had a fight and knows when you suffer a concussion and get knocked down like that, things happen,” Bareman told Combat TV.”
“Over the whole duration of the fight, you just don’t know what the knockdown does,” Bareman continued. “Has it slowed your reactions down, has it slowed your mental processing down? The knockdown – or the concussion, they can do a myriad of things so I have no doubt that that would have some effect and which is what it’s meant to do.” (Transcribed by MMA News)
Expected to land an immediate title rematch against Stickland in his return, Adesanya is set to appear in court in Auckland next January, after he pleaded guilty to drunk driving earlier this week during a court appearance, in relation to an alleged incident that occured just 23 days before his UFC 293 title fight.
