Israel Adesanya Was “Willing To Die” In Kelvin Gastelum Fight

Israel Adesanya was willing to go to great lengths to win the interim UFC middleweight title.

The rising contender became a UFC champion when he picked up a decision win over Kelvin Gastelum in the co-headliner of the UFC 236 pay-per-view event. The show went down on Saturday night (April 13, 2019) at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.

Adesanya made it known during the post-fight press conference that he wanted to finish Gastelum. That didn’t happen, but he was prepared to go the distance to get it done.

“I wanted to finish it,” Adesanya said (H/T to MMAFighting). “I was willing to die, so I was willing to kill.”

Many fans praised the bout for being so good online. Indeed, it was a battle that fans won’t soon forget. There were some points in this bout that Adesanya got rocked, but he’s not one to quit in a fight.

“I’m not one to quit,” Adesanya said. “I’m strong mentally, I’m bulletproof in the brain. And I’m fucked in the head a little bit. I just know you’re not gonna break me because I’ve had eight guys, 10 guys — I was gonna say run a train, but in a different way — on me in training. And I’m like, if they can’t break me, one man can’t break me. And he’s a tough, tough one hell of a man.

“I found something deep. I found like another level. I’ve been there in training before, but I found another level of just that darkness.”