Israel Adesanya reveals what really made him want to fight Khamzat Chimaev

Israel Adesanya is intrigued by a potential matchup against UFC contender Khamzat Chimaev.

Chimaev ran through former champion Robert Whittaker for a first-round submission this past October at UFC 308. His performance may have earned him a title shot, but not before middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis runs things back with Sean Strickland in the UFC 312 headliner on Feb. 8.

Adesanya (24-4 MMA, 13-4 UFC) wasn’t surprised with the title-fight rematch being booked, but admits Chimaev (14-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) is definitely on his radar now.

“Khamzat? Nah, I knew they were going to go with this (Du Plessis vs. Strickland) fight because I knew it was coming, they’ve already organized it,” Adesanya said on his YouTube channel. “So, I wasn’t like, ‘Oh, what?’ But, I was surprised the way Khamzat ran through Rob. That was crazy, that was like, ‘Wow.’ That made me want to fight him. I was like, ‘OK, sh*t. This guy’s actually really, really good.'”

Former UFC middleweight champion Adesanya will look to snap a two-fight losing skid when he meets Nassourdine Imavov (15-4 MMA, 7-2 UFC) Feb. 1 in the UFC Fight Night 250 headliner at ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Adesanya is coming off back-to-back title losses to Sean Strickland and Du Plessis.