Much like Jay Gatsby’s relentless pursuit of the green light across the bay, Israel Adesanya’s quest to reclaim his former glory after his shocking loss to Sean Strickland at UFC 293 and then failing to recapture it against Dricus Du Plessis after a long hiatus has become a haunting narrative in the MMA world. The former 2-time 185lbs champ, who had once moved through the Octagon with an almost mythical grace, found himself in a twilight struggle against time and diminishing returns.

The latest chapter of this saga unfolded at UFC Saudi Arabia when Izzy suffered his third consecutive setback at the hands of #2 ranked contender Nassourdine Imavov. However, Adesanya did not look like a shell of his former self. In fact, the former champ was slick on the feet in the opening round, an emotion reiterated by Dana White at the post-fight presser. So, it is only natural for Izzy to demand another shot at glory.

Well, that doesn’t seem to be the case for now. “Imavov beat me. People ask me like ‘You should get a rematch.’ I was like ‘Nah I’m good,’ like he beat me,” ‘Izzy’ said on his official YouTube channel. With this loss, ‘Izzy’ is not only out of the title picture for now, but is also 1-4 in his last five. A far cry from the guy who dominated the division for over four years.

So why not rematch the Dagestan-born fighter and try to regain his position in the division? Well, Adesanya wants to “move on,” even though he didn’t rule out the possibility of a rematch with the top prospect under the right circumstances. “If maybe one day something for the belt happens or whatever, he has a title and then there’s a cool story. But right now I’m like I don’t need to. Like he beat me, fair game, that’s it, cool,” Adesanya declared.

So what is next for Adesanya? Well, he will at least need a couple of wins over top-ranked guys to get back into title contention. Many feel that Adesanya’s slew of recent losses proves he isn’t good enough for the championship level. But that remains to be seen. After all, ‘Izzy’ did look pretty good in the first round. Moreover, he was virtually dominating the fight until he suddenly got caught with a hard right in the second. And more importantly, Adesanya himself is sure that he has another title run in him.

Israel Adesanya reveals changes he will make to win the title again

What must make this loss hurt more is that Adesanya and his team had made it a point to tell everyone they had a fantastic camp for the Imavov fight. But he still got knocked out in the second round by a younger and hungrier guy. This could mean one of two things.

Either Adesanya, even after a fantastic camp couldn’t beat a top contender, which means he has gone downhill. Or, it could mean that Imavov just caught him with a good one and he just needs to put the loss behind him and move on to the next. And ‘Izzy’ is firmly in the latter camp.

“Bro I wouldn’t change a thing about this camp. I felt great. The next fight’s going to be even better. I’m going to do the chase again, do everything I did, sacrifice [to try and win the title],” Adesanya said. To be fair, that does seem like the best course of action for ‘Izzy’. As we have mentioned, he was dominating Imavov for most of the fight.

Not to mention he looked close to beating champion Dricus Du Plessis before suddenly being submitted by the South African in their UFC 305 clash last year. Since fighting is as much mental as physical, and Adesanya is sure he can win the title again, there is a good chance that he actually does. What do you think about Israel Adesanya’s thoughts on the Nassourdine Imavov rematch?