Adesanya's Redemption: How He Used Flow To Conquer Pereira

Haunted by one man

The picture where his design is based on perfectly captures the feeling Israel ‘’The Last Stylebender’’ Adesanya had when he knocked out his rival Alex Pereira. A feeling of relief. Relief because he finally broke out of his nightmare where he kept losing to one man in a fighting match. First in China and Brazil with kickboxing and then in New York City in the UFC.

An average men would have little to no hope beating the guy who have beaten you three times before. But not Adesanya. He was determined to regain his UFC Middleweight championship title and accepted a rematch against Pereira, which was set for April 9, 2023. 

Obviously, this was about to be the biggest and most important fight of Izzy's whole UFC career. Especially the mental aspect must have weighed heavily on him. For the first time in four years, Adesanya had to fight while not defending, but chasing the belt. ''The hunted is now the hunter'' as how he said it himself.

Also, Fighting a man you've lost to three times before shouldn't give you much confidence for the next attempt. Adesanya made very clear that those previous matches only made his soul more hungry for a victory.

A merciless training camp

On his YouTube channel ‘’Freestylebender’’, every Adesanya fan had the opportunity to take a look inside his heavy training camp in preparation for the rematch.

First of all, we could see how Izzy was working with one of his coaches in the gym on his strength. By doing an exercise of throwing punches with weights, Izzy's arm muscles got used to the larger weight and became stronger to handle that weight. After he dropped the dumbells off, he must've felt a huge power in his arms while punching, because his arms were used to the additional weight.

Obviously sparring with his fighting team ''CKB'' and training on his punches, kicks, takedowns and grappling was also part of his training camp. But he did not only train very hard on his stamina, strength and technique, he also did the mental preparation. One exercise Adesanya did was walking on the bottom of a swimming pool filled with cold water.

When a person is under water and he can’t breathe, the stress kicks in really fast. No brutal power nor any other force in your inventory other than persistence can let you make it to the other side. Adesanya needed to stay calm under high stress and pressure. Exactly what he had to do in the fight with Alex Pereira.

Adesanya walking under water at his training camp ahead of the Alex Pereira rematch. Izzy had to stay calm under high pressure, while not being able to breathe.

Peaceful state of mind

Israel Adesanya also likes to meditate. Listening to calm music with closed eyes while focusing on his breath for 5 minutes per day is enough for him he says to gain a more peaceful state of mind. Meditation also helps you to ground yourself in the present moment. This clearly helps you in a fight, when it’s important to react quickly to any movement your opponent takes. Being more mindful in your daily life due to meditation also helps you to enter the flow state more quickly in a fighting match.

''This is the first time in a long time that I'm fighting not just for myself, but for all of you guys. I'm the only one in that cage, you guys can't fight with me, but this time I'm drawing strength from all of you in a way like never before. All of you, my teammates, family, friends, the real ones, thank you for giving me the strength for what I had to do to get to this point.''

~ Israel Adesanya right before the Alex Pereira rematch in one of his video's on ''Freestylebender''

All or nothing

All this mental preparation helped Izzy to being able to enter the flow state much easier when it’s time to fight. You could definitely tell that these exercises paid off for him.

Let's wind the clocks forward a couple weeks from his training camp.

We're at the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida where the big moment for Izzy and his team is finally there. In round one both fighters exchanged a couple of punches and kicks, nothing really special happened except for the dodge of Izzy from Pereira's high-kick. He just watched the kick come, calculated the height of the kick and then he moved a few inches backwards. This is one of Adesanya's signature skills, only something that a hyperfocused man in a flow state can do. 

We’re over four minutes in round two when Pereira puts some pressure on Adesanya, forcing him to stand against the fence. Pereira throws some accurate shots on Izzy and it looks like Izzy could collapse at any moment. But he's not in panic, it's just a trap he had set up. In just a matter of seconds, Adesanya throws a right hand on Pereira’s head, bounces against the fence and hits Pereira again with a left hand while Pereira falls on the ground. KO.

Adesanya is again the undisputed middleweight champion of the UFC. ‘’I don’t throw and hope, I aim and fire’’, he said before. He was right about that. Two accurate shots on the head were all he needed to make Pereira fall asleep.

UFC president Dana White puts the belt around the waist of Israel Adesanya, crowning him again to the middleweight champion of the UFC.

Get yourself together

Right after the match, Izzy was interviewed in the octagon. He said he hoped that everyone could feel how happy he was right at that moment. The champion himself said it. All you have to do is getting yourself together after you fell on the ground and one day, you will stand there in the same euphoria as Israel ‘’The last Stylebender’’ Adesanya, throwing arrows at your opponent you just knocked out.

''You will never ever feel this level of hapiness if you don't go for something in your own life. When they trynna sh*t on you, when they talk sh*t about you, and they trynna put that foot on your neck. If you stay down, you will never ever get that resolve. Fortify your mind and feel this level of happiness as you rise, one time in your life.’’ 

~ Israel Adesanya in the octagon interview right after the Alex Pereira rematch

In the 'Flagrant' podcast with Andrew Schulz, he spoke about the interview he gave in the octagon. ‘’I feel like a rapper, I was just flowing, and when I’m in the flow state, it just happens.’’ If people were wondering what the secret behind Israel Adesanya’s success is, then they have the answer now after reading this story. The answer is working hard, doing the mental preperation and zoning into the flow state.

 

The adrenaline and euphoria coursing through Izzy's body speak here, just a few moments after he knocked out Alex Pereira. Adesanya had visualized this moment beforehand under the shower, which made his mind send a signal to the universe that he desires to let that moment happen in real life. Luckily for Adesanya, it did happen in real life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNoODFgTq3c&t=96s