Israel Adesanya set for huge changes ahead of UFC Saudi Arabia on February 1

UFC star Israel Adesanya has been undergoing some changes in training camp ahead of his return to action at UFC Saudi Arabia.

In the main event of UFC Saudi Arabia next month, Israel Adesanya will battle Nassourdine Imavov. If he wins, there’s every chance he’ll be able to vault himself back into another title opportunity. In equal measure, if he loses, it could easily mark the end of his tenure at 185 pounds. Either way, this is a pretty blockbuster fight that’s on the horizon for ‘Stylebender’.

As we know, Israel Adesanya trains at City Kickboxing and has done throughout his mixed martial arts career. His head coach is Eugene Bareman, who has been instrumental in his rise to prominence in the sport.

In a recent interview, Bareman spoke about making changes with regards to Adesanya’s preparation.

Israel Adesanya set for big changes

“There are a few things I’m doing quite differently with Izzy for this fight. They’re a lot more drastic to what I’m usually accustomed to doing,” Bareman told Combat TV.

“I like to take things very steady and take a kind of if it’s not broke there’s no need to fix it (approach). But based on past performances I thought we needed to really just kind of flip things on its head a bit,” he continued.

“He’s looking really, really good and responding really, really well to this slightly different approach, something that he hasn’t been used to for the last few camps… I’m looking for a very vintage performance from Israel and so far we’re right on track for that,” Bareman claimed.

Quotes via Bloody Elbow

For Israel Adesanya, the goal is simple – push for middleweight glory for the third time. If he can’t achieve that, who knows, maybe a move up in weight could be on the cards.