Israel Adesanya has finally shown the world who’s standing behind him in Saudi Arabia, and the answer is a lot more homegrown than anyone expected. In a video on his YouTube channel, the former middleweight champion laid out his new coaching staff at Unity MMA ahead of his December 5 main event against Shara Magomedov. It’s his first camp since leaving City Kickboxing earlier this year.
The headliner of the new corner is Andrei Paulet, who served as Adesanya’s wrestling coach at CKB. Adesanya was quick to say that label sells Paulet short, calling him “way more than a wrestling coach, that’s just his foundation.” Paulet then brought in Tristam (Twist) Apikotoa, another longtime presence in Adesanya’s orbit, and Apikotoa recruited sparring partners out of South Auckland. The whole operation now lives at Unity MMA, a gym owned by Andrew Schmidt that sits just up the road from Adesanya. He said he was part of the reason Schmidt built the place in the first place.
Adesanya admitted the move initially left him unsure of his footing. “I was with CKB for 16 years,” he said, adding that he weighed options overseas before deciding to stick with the people he already trusted.
Why the split matters
According to Bloody Elbow, Adesanya had behind-the-scenes friction with former head coach Eugene Bareman over the past few years, though both sides kept it professional and out of public view. Adesanya didn’t take any swings at Bareman in the video. He did, however, explain how CKB’s group structure worked during big fight camps for himself, Dan Hooker or Navajo Stirling, with classes built around whoever had the marquee bout. A lot of that curriculum, he said, centered on his needs. Then came the line that will get dissected for weeks: “But I don’t know if that rubbed people the wrong way.”
The smaller setup, he said, means he no longer has to split his time helping teammates prep for their own fights. “Now it feels like a private school, a private lesson.”
The stakes on December 5
The 37-year-old enters the Magomedov fight on a four-fight losing streak, and this will be his second trip to the Octagon this year. Adesanya has also claimed this has been the best camp of his career. Magomedov, known as Bullet, gets the main event slot and the chance to put his name on the biggest scalp of his career.
My take: I like this more than I thought I would. When a legend on a slide leaves his longtime gym, the usual move is a splashy flight to some superteam in Florida or Thailand, and it rarely fixes anything. Adesanya kept the guy who, by his own account, helped him win his titles, added a familiar face who’s been around him for years, and moved up the street. That’s a fighter trying to find the old feeling instead of chasing a new brand. His comment about possibly rubbing people the wrong way at CKB is spicy enough to keep questions about the old gym coming all fight week. Whether any of it matters gets answered in Saudi Arabia on December 5, when a guy who’s lost four straight has to prove the private lessons paid off against a striker who wants his spot.
