By Mike Parrott
With more and more incidents of UFC/Boxing crossovers happening, Israel Adesanya has ruled out a Boxing crossover anytime in the future.
Canelo Alvarez became the WBO Lightweight Champion earlier this Month, and since then there hasn't been a shortage of UFC fighters ready to step into the Boxing ring to give him a fight.
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After Jorge Masvidal called out Canelo for a Boxing Match, Adesanya was asked about the recent influx of Boxing/UFC crossover fights: "This [UFC] is where I'm going to end my career...It's silly. Why would I come to the proving ground of all fighting - the UFC - and then afterward, fight a guy and take away like 80 percent of my weapons."
"I just want to kick people. I want to strangle someone. I can't do that in boxing. I don't want to get into the clinch and then okay, break."
With Adesanya's primary background coming from Kickboxing, The UFC Middleweight Champion prefers that he can use multiple techniques to win, rather than just Box: "Same thing with kickboxing, same thing with jiu-jitsu, same thing with judo, same thing with wrestling, they're all limited styles of fighting."
Adesanya did call out fans of Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez though, especially when Pundits alike call Canelo the pound-for-pound best fighter:
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"Pound-for-pound -everyone throws that greatest fighter, pound-for-pound is Canelo [Alvarez]. He's the pound-for-pound maybe greatest boxer right now. Not fighter. You have to test yourself against another style."
The UFC fighter was also asked if he'd do the fight to get a bigger pay-cheque, something Conor McGregor was accused of when he fought Floyd Mayweather in 2017:
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"People say, 'oh, after UFC, you can go to boxing and have one super fight maybe with Canelo and make a hundred million'. I'm like, I can do that in the UFC. I might be the first fighter to do that in the UFC."
