Israel Adesanya Reacts To Rumors About First UFC Headliner

When rumors emerged that Brad Tavares would be forced off his scheduled meeting against Israel Adesanya at The Ultimate Fighter Season 27 Finale (TUF 27 Finale), “The Last Stylebender” had different information coming at him for all sorts of directions.

Adesanya said that he received a call from his father after seeing a video of UFC President Dana White saying Tavares might not be able to compete. Adesanya told MMA Fighting that after contacting his coach, Eugene Bareman, he was told not to worry about it:

“I have no idea what was going on there,” Adesanya said. “Out of nowhere I got word from my Dad saying, ‘What happened to the fight? I heard your opponent broke his foot?’ I hadn’t heard anything about it and I still haven’t.

“I text Eugene and he told me to ignore it and that Mick Maynard had said it was nothing. Then my Dad sent me on a link, it was a video of Dana White talking about Tavares breaking his foot. Again, I was told to ignore it.”

Tavares has recently commented on the matter, claiming the fight is “100 percent on.” Regardless if it’s Tavares or someone else standing across from him inside the cage, Adesanya couldn’t seem to care less:

“My heart didn’t skip a beat. As far as I’m concerned, I’m fighting and if he’s injured, I’ll fight someone else. I always have a feeling that things like this are going to happen when I sign for a fight, but I didn’t lose any sleep over it. I was training that day like normal.”

While Adesanya feels that it might be true that Tavares suffered an injury in training camp, someone from the Hawaiian’s camp may have jumped the gun in detailing the severity of the situation:

“Where there’s smoke there’s fire, so maybe there was something. Maybe Dana White or someone else jumped the gun.

“Regardless of whether he’s picked up an injury or not, it’s not going to change anything. All I know is I’m fighting and my flights are booked. Nothing is going to ruin this for me.”