Adesanya shuts down boxing talk with Anthony Joshua: ‘Already done that’

Israel Adesanya isn’t concerned with crossing again over into the boxing world.

MMA fighters leaving the game for boxing is a sizzling subject proper now. ESPN simply launched an article suggesting we’ll solely see extra UFC guys preventing out their contract after which attempting to land an enormous payday within the ring. As one nameless athlete was quoted saying: “when you promote 50,000 pay-per-views, 100,000 pay-per-views, you continue to make a boatload of cash.”

Don’t anticipate “The Final Stylebender” Israel Adesanya to leap on that bandwagon, although. As Anthony Joshua vs. Francis Ngannou approaches on March eighth, Adesanya shared backstage footage from Joshua’s final struggle towards Otto Wallin in December.

“After seeing Ngannou do what he performed, what you pondering?” Joshua requested.

Adesanya revealed he had already acquired calls from some severe individuals about boxing.

“‘You ever thought of going within the boxing ring?’ I used to be like, I already did! 6-1!” Izzy mentioned, referencing a 2015 dabble within the candy science. “The cash’s an excessive amount of for them to get me again. I simply really feel like I’ve already performed that, and proper now the UFC’s taking care of me fairly nicely. However I do know what you imply … there’s a quantity, however I don’t assume these guys are prepared to pay it.”

UFC pay figures are deliberately opaque, however Adesanya is assumed to make mid-seven figures from the UFC per struggle. Good cash, nevertheless it pales compared to the purses getting paid out on the prime of boxing. Anthony Joshua earned $42 million in 2023, whereas Saul “Canelo” Alvarez fought twice final 12 months and made $63 million. That’s simply straight purse cash, no sponsorships or enterprise dealings.

Former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou is now on this orbit. He went from making mid-six figures within the UFC to cashing greater than $10 million towards Tyson Fury. He might make as much as $20 million towards Anthony Joshua.

No surprise so many UFC stars are angling for these cross-sport cash fights. It’s known as prize preventing for a cause, in any case.