"It would be a beautiful fight" - Yousri Belgaroui eyes UFC revenge against Israel Adesanya but holds back on callout

Israel Adesanya's former kickboxing foe, Yousri Belgaroui, announced his UFC entry in style, earning a third-round knockout win over Azamat Bekoev in this past weekend's Fight Night event in Vancouver, Canada.

Now having made it to the big leagues, the 33-year-old appears open to revisiting their old kickboxing rivalry on MMA's biggest stage. During his post-fight press conference in the Rogers Arena, when asked whether a UFC clash with 'The Last Stylebender' interested him, Belgaroui responded:

"For sure. First of all, he is an exciting guy, he is a great striker. I'm sure it'd be a beautiful fight, you know. I think we can make it a great fight for the fans."

'Baby Face Assassin', however, recognizes Adesanya's legendary status in the sport and is focused on earning his way to the fight rather than issuing a premature callout:

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"I don't have personal issues with him. I know he is up there, like, he's done a lot for the sport, for himself. So, it wouldn't make sense to call him out right now, but along the line if that fight makes sense, I'm sure that [fight] is going to be very, very cool."

Check out Yousri Balgaroui's comments on a potential fight against Israel Adesanya below:

Balgaroui earned his ticket to the UFC off a TKO win over Taiga Iwasaki in the 2024 Dana White's Contender Series. The Dutch national holds a 9-3 record in MMA. As a kickboxer, he is a three-time Glory Middleweight title challenger.

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Yousri Belgaroui reveals the biggest thing he learned from Alex Pereira

While the pair are now training partners, Yousri Belgaroui and Alex Pereira have a history. Two of Belgaroui's Glory title fight losses were against 'Poatan', and the Dutch national lost both via stoppage.

Now, training alongside his former foe to improve his craft, it appears 'Poatan's' mindset has been his biggest source of inspiration for 'Baby Face Assassin'. Speaking at the post-fight presser at UFC Vancouver, Belgaroui said:

“Mindset [Is the biggest lesson I learned]. I mean, yes, there are a lot of technical things we train and I learned from him, but the way he approaches fighting is amazing. It's hard to grasp in words. You can't even put it in a martial arts world. You really got to put it in a warrior style of war and how people used to approach war back in the vintage times, you know, actually going in there and, you know, not sleeping for four days, not eating and going in the cold and obliterating an opponent. I mean, that's how close you got to get to come in, how he approaches a fight. And I take a lot from that.” [5:44 minutes into the press conference]

Edited by Ujwal Jain