Israel Adesanya has revealed late boxing great Muhammed Ali had a role in his emphatic knockout win at UFC 287.
Adesanya reclaimed his middleweight title with a knockout win against rival Alex Pereira in the second round, revealing shortly after in his winner's interview that he played "possum" to lure Pereira in.
The tactic worked perfectly with Pereira looking to unload but dropping his defences in the process, allowing Adesanya to land a clean right hook that would end the fight.
Speaking more on the moment in the event's press conference, Adesanya likened the ploy to the famous “rope-a-dope” tactic used by Ali during the legendary ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ fight with George Foreman in 1974.
Ali coaxed Foreman into punching himself out before landing an eighth round knockout to reclaim his world heavyweight titles - a story eerily similar to the one Adesanya now owns.
"I changed the tactics up a bit and I listened to my corner, and I trusted my instinct. But there was a moment when I was visualising this fight I was like, if I get the chance, and when I get the chance, George Foreman-Muhammad Ali, phantom punch," Adesanya said.
"Will I just let him slide? And I was like, f*** that, he wouldn't have done the same to me, he'll come for the kill. So the honourable thing I could have done was put him out of his misery.
"And after that rope-a-dope moment, I saw him lying flat on the ground, frozen like Elsa."
The result was Adesanya's [24-2] first career win over the Brazilian fighter having lost two kickboxing bouts previous before last year's title fight defeat in November.
But the Nigerian-born Kiwi fighter isn't fussed about the record.
"I don't keep score, I settle them. I gave him a fast-track to the belt, I could have said, 'f*** no, who has he fought? He fought one top fighter and he did well, fought some alright guys and beat [Sean] Strickland,” he said.
“So I was like, fine, there's no-one else. I'm looking for that challenge, the guy who beat me in kickboxing. That's why I took that fight.
"I got the immediate rematch because of what I've done in this game. I won the belt against Kelvin [Gastelum], I defended it against Rob [Whittaker], [Yoel] Romero, [Paulo] Costa, [Marvin] Vettori, Rob again, [Jared] Cannonier. Seven."
Adesanya added he wasn't instantly sold on a third fight.
"I did the hard yards and I earned my rematch. Now he's got to do the hard yards, if he wants to do that but I don't think he's gonna."
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