Israel Adesanya, reigning UFC Middleweight champion, motormouth, and surprisingly good dancer, has one job he won’t be adding to his resume: coaching on The Ultimate Fighter.
The return of the UFC’s landmark reality TV series prompted months of rumors, speculation, and press intrigue. They wound up recruiting Australian Featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski and contender Brian Ortega for the series, but not before assessing a few additional options. These, according to the Nigerian/New Zealander, included Adesanya and Darren Till.
Why Adesanya TURNED DOWN TUF
This was an offer Adesanya refused, explaining why on a podcast with Akaash Singh and Andrew Schultz.
“I’ll tell you one thing, there’s a new season of TUF with my boy, Alex Volkanovski, coaching it, it’s gonna be dope. I think episode three is already coming out this week.”
“Breaking news leaked. It got offered to me and Darren Till, and instantly I said no. Personally, I don’t want cameras in my face that much and I don’t want to be stuck in Vegas for that long.”
Israel Adesanya and Darren Till are two of the UFC’s biggest personalities. Till, hailing from Liverpool in the UK, enjoys winding up his opponents as much as Israel Adesanya does. Both men are as well known for their antics outside the Octagon (including Till walking on to Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” before a home crowd) as within it. Presumably, the end of the series would have involved Till challenging for Adesanya’s title.
However, “The Last Stylebender” felt that the series would have focused more on their antics than their fighting prowess. This, he claims, would have been detrimental to himself and the sport:
“What does it take to make good reality tv? Drama. A lot of drama. And I’m a troll. Darren’s a troll.”
“I feel like I would have to go to the lowest form of myself. The pranks that they’d play, I could go lower. And people don’t understand like… I take the high road a lot, but when it’s time to go low, limbo.”
Whether Adesanya’s definition of “taking the high road” involves simulating anal sex with his defeated opponents is unclear. The return of The Ultimate Fighter is resoundingly welcome in the MMA community, so maybe we’ll see these two huge personalities on the show sometime in the future.
Would you watch Adesanya and Till on The Ultimate Fighter, or would you prefer Adesanya and another contender? How would a potential match between the two go? Let us know in the comments.
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