“They say revenge is sweet and if you know me, I’ve got a sweet tooth.” The words expressed by Israel Adesanya just moments after he achieved the most satisfying victory in his career. A win that didn’t just earn back the UFC Middleweight Championship. But a win that lifted all the weight off of his shoulders to finally prove the doubters wrong who said that he could never defeat his biggest rival Alex Pereira.
Just about every storied career has entered a roadblock that many see them not being able to handle or hurdle over. For example, could you imagine Michael Jordan being unable to defeat the Bad Boy Detroit Pistons or if Tom Brady had the opportunity to face Eli Manning for a third time at the Super Bowl? Only one of those situations happened while the other is a figment of our imagination since Brady and Manning have ridden their careers into the sunset.
Despite being the favorite in the betting odds, nothing can truly make you feel confident other than going after the dream that many see you failing once again to the man who won’t stop traveling the world and different sports to prove he is better than you.
Adesanya reached both his “Eminem moment” and his “Down 0-3 against the Warriors moment” He was in the position where you capture that moment or you continue to be the laughingstock of the world. A moment that only a few can grab, Adesanya channeled everything he had to bounce himself back like the King LeBron James did when he, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love, and the other Cavaliers won the NBA Finals in 2016.
Pereira was the villain. He did everything he possibly could do to show Adesanya that he was better than him in every way. The only thing he forgot is the fact that every dog has their day and his slowly arrived for Adesanya to turn into the best revenge served on a hot plate after many cold days wondering when he would get the opportunity to show the world that he has what it takes to capitalize on the biggest win of their storied rivalry and his career.
4 chapters, over 70K fans combined who have watched Pereira vs. Adesanya in the crowd along with the millions at home who were on the edge of their seat wondering if revenge was real or not for the Last Stylebender.
It took 2190 days, and 52560 hours of waiting, plotting, and training every day to figure out how to defeat the man that everyone said Adesanya would never be able to put away. It did not matter who else Adesanya was able to defeat because he had done it all already.
He beat Robert Whittaker twice, and he destroyed the likes of Paulo Costa and Marvin Vettori. He cleared out the Middleweights more than once, he proved he was the king of the division, and now with a victory over his biggest rival. Adesanya has proven that nothing could truly keep him down. He was never going to quit, he would die trying to show every doubter in the world that even the hardest victories can come true.
At the end of every fight, two things are brought up, the respect you show your opponent and proving to the world that you’re the best. Adesanya has earned the respect of his rival Pereira. But most importantly earned the right to be called the best Middleweight in the UFC once again. A loss could have pushed the Last Stylebender out the door. However, it did not and he was able to kick the door open and show all of us why those moments like this exist, moments, where you achieve the biggest victory in life, are out there, and capturing it is all about hard work, dedication, never giving up and never backing down from any of the hardest challenges we’re faced with in life.
The future is currently unknown. The idea of Pereira moving up to another weight class is the current question everyone is wondering to themselves, or will the MMA trilogy go down in the next couple of months? It’s the modern-day Wanderlei Silva vs. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. At first, we felt Silva was more than too much for Jackson to handle. But time, patience, and preservation brought Jackson his big win over his biggest rival.
The biggest lesson to learn from this? Never give up. Never let anyone tell you that moments like this can’t come true. If you can dream it, you can believe that it’ll come true in due time.
You are either the hero or the villain in your story, but that doesn’t mean you can’t achieve the biggest victories in your life. Don’t believe me? Believe in The Last Stylebender, Israel Mobolaji Temitayo Odunayo Oluwafemi Owolabi Adesanya.
