Israel
Adesanya says he was the last active
UFC middleweight champion.
Adesanya notes that the current middleweight champion, Khamzat
Chimaev, once fought twice within 10 days early in his UFC
career. However, Chimaev won the title in August 2025 and will now
defend it against Sean
Strickland at UFC 328
on May 9. Adesanya sees the division slowing down without him as
the champion.
The Last Active Champion
“Look at the middleweight division now — Khamzat was a very active
guy coming up, smoking everybody, fighting multiple times, I think
twice in a month, even at one point,” Adesanya told ESPN. “And now that he’s champion, I’m sure
what the deal is – is it visa issues? Is it injuries? I’m not sure…
The last active champion was me. The last guy who put it all on the
line regardless, every time calling out the best, was me. So that’s
one thing that I would say people didn’t appreciate, even I didn’t
appreciate. Now that I’m here watching it, I’m like, damn, this
game is just slow and stuck without me.”
Adesanya (24-5) won the middleweight title in 2019 and defended it
five times before losing to Alex
Pereira in 2022, also squeezing in a failed light heavyweight
title bid. Adesanya reclaimed his title in the rematch against
Pereira but failed to defend it against Sean
Strickland. “The Last Stylebender” has since lost two more,
putting him on a three-fight slump. Adesanya is now scheduled to
headline
UFC Seattle this weekend against Joe Pyfer
(15-3). There have been four middleweight title fights overall
since Adesanya lost the title to Strickland in September
2023.