Israel Adesanya Says He Has Signed for His Next Fight: "There's Going to Be Blood in the Sand, and It's Not Going to Be Me"

Israel Adesanya says the paperwork is done. The former UFC middleweight champion revealed on his "Precision Podcast" that he has signed the contract for his next fight — and he sounds like a man who has found his fire again.

"We just signed the contract yesterday," Adesanya said. "Finally, both of them. You know, you've got the disclosed purse and the other one. All I'm going to say is there's going to be blood in the sand. It's easy to talk because I've lost my last four, but it's all good. There will be blood in the sand, and it's not going to be me."

Adesanya did not name his opponent on the podcast. The matchup linked to his return is reported, not announced: a UFC Fight Night headliner against Shara Magomedov in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Dec. 5. The UFC has not announced the fight, and nothing about the opponent, date or venue should be read as confirmed until it does.

That distinction matters, because Adesanya's own words are the only confirmed part of the story so far. He signed. Everything else — the name across the cage, the city, the date — remains a report.

What is not in doubt is the hole Adesanya is trying to climb out of. He has not won since reclaiming the middleweight title with a second-round knockout of Alex Pereira at UFC 287 in April 2023. Since then, he has lost four straight: to Sean Strickland, Dricus Du Plessis, Nassourdine Imavov, and most recently Joe Pyfer in March. It is the longest losing streak of his professional career, and the former champion has not hidden how heavy it has felt.

"I've missed this sh*t," Adesanya said. "The last three years have just not been fun. I've been lost, so I'm found again. I just can't wait to showcase everything. Yeah, you'll see. You know me, I speak from the heart, and I don't want to let this get bigger. I just want to show you guys."

That is the real story in this announcement — less the signature itself than the tone around it. Adesanya is not talking like a man going through the motions. He is talking like someone who has started to enjoy the process again, after three years in which, by his own account, he had not.

If the reported headliner comes to pass, it would be his 14th straight UFC event as a headliner, according to MMA Junkie. But that is a detail for later, once the UFC makes something official. For now, the news is simpler and, for Adesanya, more personal: the contract is signed, the losing run is the thing he is chasing down, and he believes he has found himself again in time to do it.