UFC: Israel Adesanya delays title fight for teammate Junior Fa

Israel Adesanya (centre) with his coach Eugene Bareman (second from left) and teammates. Photo / Getty

Kiwi UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya will not fight again this year in order to help teammate Junior Fa prepare for his boxing clash against Joseph Parker.

City Kickboxing coach Eugene Bareman, who trains both Adesanya and Fa, said the "team first" mentality of the gym led to Adesanya stepping aside from a planned title defence against American fighter Jared Cannonier on December 12 – just one day after Fa's scheduled 'Fight of the Century' clash with Parker.

"Me and Tristram [Apikota] – who are integral parts of Israel's coaching team, we've been there for every fight – have committed ourselves to Junior," Bareman told 1News.

"And fair enough, it's Junior's time in the limelight now."

The highly-anticipated all-Kiwi clash between Fa and Parker was confirmed earlier this month, with the fight taking place on December 11 at Spark Arena.

With Adesanya opting not to get back in the octagon this year, Bareman and the rest of the gym will be able to focus their attention on helping Fa in the biggest fight of his career.

"Although Israel wanted to fight in December, he does not want to fight without his coaching team so he's going to have to push his timetable out to fight in early next year."

Bareman added that the UFC superstar was happy to delay his next fight for his teammate.

"We're a team – if you have to move because another fighter is in the limelight, then Israel is more than happy to move aside so Junior can get his fight done.

"That's just how you operate as a team.

"Without hesitation, Israel is like, 'yes, there's big money involved but there's big money involved for Junior as well. This is the biggest pay day, it's the biggest fight of Junior's life'."

Adesanya and Fa will continue to work together as sparring partners ahead of the bout against Parker.

"Junior is someone who's helped Israel throughout his whole UFC career. He's been there, they've done rounds together.

"So without hesitation, Israel stepped aside."

Meanwhile, Bareman also revealed that because of Adesanya's change of plans, his next fight could be a shot at the light heavyweight title as the UFC middleweight champ looks to become a dual title holder.

"Cannonier was the option for this year but we've taken that option off the table," Bareman said.

"Now we want to fight next year and our preferred fight next year is at [light heavyweight]."

While an immediate title fight against UFC light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz isn't guaranteed, Bareman said it was their "preferred option".

"If we have to push it to next year, then our preferred option, the fight that we are going to try and negotiate to the best of our ability is going to be at 205 [pounds] for the title."