Adesanya on Life After City Kickboxing: "This Is the Best I've Felt in a Very Long Time"
“This is the best I've felt in a very long time, for real.”
Israel Adesanya left the gym that made him, built a camp of his own after four straight losses, and says the change is working. A reported December return against Shara Magomedov in Riyadh is still awaiting UFC confirmation — but the 37-year-old sounds like a fighter who has already made his decision.
The most revealing footage of Adesanya's year is not from a fight. On November 5, he published a video on his YouTube channel titled "Inside Look at Israel Adesanya's NEW Training Camp" — hill sprints, jiu-jitsu, sparring — showing the first camp of his career built anywhere other than City Kickboxing. His verdict on it was unhedged: "I can truly say, with my departure from my old gym, CKB, and now building the team that I have and training specifically for me, this is the best I've felt in a very long time, for real." He added: "Training camp's been awesome. This is the most fun training camp I've had in years."
The departure itself was handled the way he wanted it — in person, and early. Adesanya first walked into City Kickboxing in Auckland in 2009 and moved there to establish himself in 2010; the gym, under Eugene Bareman, turned him into a two-time UFC middleweight champion. On May 20 this year, he told Bareman face-to-face that he was not coming back, and announced it publicly in a YouTube video on July 9, during UFC 329 fight week. His stated reason then is still the only one on record: "What I need for myself is focused, individual training. So, I've made the decision to leave CKB for my own reasons. I'll leave it at that." And, in the same video: "Insanity is doing the same shit and expecting a different result." He was equally clear about what he was leaving: "CKB made me into the fighter that I am today."
Bareman's answer, issued the next day, carried no rancor. He congratulated Adesanya on everything he had given New Zealand sport and closed with the door open: "We wish Israel all the best, and it has been our honour to work with and make some contribution to his success. He is welcome at CKB and will always be part of our family." No source on either side has ever supported a falling-out; Adesanya has disclosed no reason beyond the individual training he asked for.
What replaced CKB is deliberately smaller. His head coach is Andrei Paulet, who was his wrestling coach at CKB; Athlon reports his support team includes strength coach Bill Smart and jiu-jitsu coach Byron Chivers of Auckland's Unity MMA. The point of the structure is in Adesanya's own words — a team "training specifically for me." He says he has been in fight-week shape for weeks.
He needs it to be. Adesanya is 24-6 and on the worst run of his career: four consecutive defeats. He lost the middleweight title to Sean Strickland by decision at UFC 293 in September 2023, was submitted by Dricus du Plessis in the fourth round of their title fight at UFC 305, and was then stopped by Nassourdine Imavov and Joe Pyfer — his last three losses all finishes. His last victory was the knockout of Alex Pereira that regained the title at UFC 287 in April 2023, more than three and a half years ago.
The comeback fight, if it is confirmed, is a striking fan's main event. Ariel Helwani reported on October 14 that Adesanya will headline the UFC's December 5 card in Riyadh against Sharabutdin "Shara" Magomedov (17-1), a five-round middleweight fight. Adesanya said during an October podcast appearance that he had signed his next fight contract, without naming an opponent. But the UFC has not announced the bout: as Sherdog put it this week, he is "rumored to be headlining UFC Saudi Arabia against Sharabutdin Magomedov on Dec. 5 in Riyadh, though the promotion has yet to confirm the matchup," and no UFC announcement of it exists. Magomedov, whose only loss came against Michael Page in Riyadh in February 2025 — the same card on which Imavov stopped Adesanya — last fought in June, beating Michel Pereira by decision in Baku.
So the picture is of a fighter rebuilding in private while the paperwork catches up: a new team, a new routine in the same city, and a reported date with one of the division's most dangerous strikers. Whether or not December 5 is confirmed, Adesanya's message from inside the new camp is that the change itself was the point — and that, for the first time in a very long time, he is enjoying the work.
