Adesanya: Title-winning KO made with torn MCL

Israel Adesanya says he suffered a Grade 1 MCL tear the week before his unforgettable knockout of Alex Pereira at UFC 287 earlier this month in Miami.

Adesanya (24-2) revealed the injury via his YouTube channel Wednesday, including video of how it happened. The injury occurred when Adesanya’s leg buckled awkwardly underneath his body as a training partner wrestled him to the ground.

The two-time 185-pound champion explained why he never considered pulling out of the fight, comparing it to an injury he had five years ago.

“I’ve been here before,” Adesanya said. “My UFC debut, three weeks out, I did my right ankle. I remember the next day, calling [a physiotherapist] and being like, ‘Yo, I need to see you tomorrow ASAP.’ … He had to reinjure it or cause pain to it. I remember biting on a towel and sitting there in pain, screaming as he’s f—ing massaging my hurt ankle where it’s not supposed to be massaged.”

The MCL tear is not expected to force Adesanya to miss time. In fact, he has already targeted South African middleweight Dricus Du Plessis as his next opponent.

Du Plessis will have to get past former champion Robert Whittaker at UFC 290 in July to set up that fight. UFC president Dana White has already said the winner of that bout will face Adesanya next.

In the video, Adesanya described another instance in which he injured his knee in 2018 three weeks before an important fight against Derek Brunson in New York.

“So I was like, ‘This has happened. This is my perspective. This was meant to happen. I’ll overcome this,'” Adesanya said.

The African-born, New Zealand-based middleweight earned arguably the biggest win of his career April 8, knocking out Pereira (7-2) with a pair of counter right hands in the second round. Adesanya reclaimed the UFC belt that Pereira had taken from him in November via fifth-round knockout.