Nigerian-born Kiwi middleweight fighter Israel Adesanya is looking to keep his undefeated mixed martial arts record intact and become New Zealand's first UFC champion next weekend.
The 29-year-old is set to co-main event the UFC 236 fight card at State Farm Arena next Sunday in Atlanta, fighting US rival Kelvin Gastelum for the interim UFC middleweight belt.
Adesanya hasn't been as vocal like in past UFC fights for his upcoming bout, saying he is happy to stay silent until his opponent Gastelum begins the war of words ahead of their showdown.
"I don't know if he is trying to play, but he's trying to play the role of the good guy," said Adesanya.
"This is a fight at the end of the day, I don't hate anyone that I fight. Some of the guys that I have fought I have liked them, cause we were friends, some guys in the past.
"But with him [Gastelum] I'm indifferent, if he wants to say something, cool. I've got bars for him, if he doesn't then cool I have got nothing to say."
Adesanya has an MMA record of 16-0 and is undefeated in five of his bouts in the UFC.
"I'm just having fun, as you saw at the press conference I was just having fun with him [criticised Gastelum's height], as I do.
"It's all fun and games and we'll keep playing until we get in the cage."
Adesanya says he has plenty of tools in his arsenal to stop Gastelum who is a southpaw wrestler.
"He's a southpaw like [Derek] Brunson, but I have been fighting southpaws my whole UFC career – three out of five of them were southpaws," Adesanya said.
"I know how to deal with them. I'm taller than him which I can use to my advantage but also my timing is better, which a lot of people don't count.
"A lot of my other opponents on paper are better wrestlers than me, we seen how a lot of them have turned out for a lot of them.
"I think for this fight, he hasn't done it in a long time, but I think he is going to go back to wrestling school for this fight."
The winner of next weekend's bout is likely to take on current UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker in August.
SHARE ME