After another stoppage loss, fans are questioning whether 'The Last Stylebender' should make his exit from fighting at this stage in his career.
Israel Adesanya has lost his last three fights in the middleweight division following his return to the Octagon on Saturday night in Riyadh. The former two-time middleweight champion was stopped in the second round by Nassourdine Imavov in a fight that had big stakes at play for both men.
For many, this fight proved that whilst Adesanya is clearly still a very skilled fighter, he no longer has what it takes to mix it up with the top guys at 185-pounds.
It has already been pointed out that the City Kickboxing fighter has nothing left to prove in this sport after everything that he has accomplished and that's the stance that has been taken by a close friend of his.
Kamaru Usman does not believe that Israel Adesanya needs to retire from fighting but he does think that 'The Last Stylebender' should pivot directions going forward.
'The Nigerian Nightmare' believes that his friend no longer needs to prove himself against the best in the world and would rather see him exploring fun fights that the fans want to see if he's going to continue competing.
In a recent episode of his Pound 4 Pound podcast alongside Henry Cejudo, Usman drew a comparison between Adesanya and Anderson Silva, the two greatest middleweights we have ever seen in the UFC.
Once Silva's iconic middleweight title reign came to an end, he never recaptured the belt but he did produce some more great contests (though he did lose the vast majority of them) including his war with Michael Bisping in London and of course, his UFC 234 main event showdown with Adesanya.
"For Israel, man honestly, he's at a point in his career to where, remember Anderson Silva got to this place where, 'I'm gonna pick a fun fight. It's a fun fight, that's a fight that I think is going to be great, that people want to see that fight,' cuz Izzy did show that he can still fight, he was still sharp."
Israel Adesanya has been on top of the middleweight division for so long that he has already faced the majority of the top names in the weight class.
The name that was thrown out by Henry Cejudo in response to Usman's comments was Kelvin Gastelum in a rematch of their instant classic from UFC 236.
Usman passionately disagreed about running this fight back but the fact of the matter is that middleweight doesn't have a lot of exciting options for Adesanya outside of a rematch with Sean Strickland which he will surely want to run back at some stage.
This could mean a move to light heavyweight, which he has attempted once before, where a familiar foe currently sits at the top of the division in Alex Pereira.
205-pounds might not suit 'The Last Stylebender' quite as well but it would open up the prospect of new matchups for the 35-year-old.