Israel Adesanya's New Chapter: Training with Volkanovski in Sydney
Israel Adesanya has started his rebuild a long way from home, walking into a different gym, a different city, and a very different phase of his career.
The former UFC middleweight champion has linked up with a new team in Sydney, throwing himself into camp alongside featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski and surging lightweight Mauricio Ruffy at the Freestyle MMA Performance Centre.
A New Room, A New Reality
Footage released through Engage, the combat sports brand co-owned by Adesanya and Volkanovski, showed the ex-champion arriving at the Freestyle MMA facility, the familiar stronghold of Volkanovski’s reign. No fanfare. Just Adesanya stepping through the doors of someone else’s empire, gloves in hand, ready to work.
Another clip, this time from Ruffy’s social media, captured the Brazilian prospect and Adesanya moving through drills together, confirming what had been whispered for weeks: the former middleweight king has touched down in Australia and is embedding himself in a new camp.
Freestyle MMA, led by long-time Volkanovski coach Joe Lopez, now looks like Adesanya’s base for at least the near future. The training room is already crowded with high-level minds. Coaches from Thailand’s Bangtao MMA — including recently retired UFC fighter Brad Riddell and head coach George Hickman — appeared in the videos, actively coaching the sessions and adding another layer of familiarity for Adesanya.
Different flag. Different gym. But some familiar faces.
Leaving Home
This shift comes only two months after Adesanya’s emotional split from City Kickboxing, the Auckland gym where he rose from kickboxing standout to UFC superstar. He confirmed the departure on his YouTube channel, calling it a necessary step after a bruising run in his career.
"It's bittersweet, but it's the right thing for me, especially where I'm at in my career," he said at the time.
The numbers behind that sentiment are stark. Adesanya has lost four straight fights. His last win dates back to April 2023, when he spectacularly knocked out Alex Pereira at UFC 287 to reclaim the middleweight crown. Since then, the aura has cracked. The latest blow came in March, a defeat to Joe Pyfer at UFC Fight Night 271, a result that appears to have pushed him toward finally leaving the only MMA home he’d really known.
City Kickboxing head coach Eugene Bareman has not stood in his way. Quite the opposite. In a statement to "She Loves the Gloves" on Medium, Bareman publicly backed Adesanya’s decision, stressing that a change of environment can spark a new run of success.
"We wish Israel all the best, and it has been our honor to work with and make some contribution to his success," Bareman said, adding that Adesanya remains "welcome at CKB and will always be part of our family."
The door in Auckland is still open. But for now, Adesanya has chosen Sydney.
Dropped Into the Fire
Adesanya hasn’t joined a quiet off-season camp. Volkanovski and Ruffy are already deep into preparations for major assignments, and that intensity shapes everything.
Volkanovski is gearing up to defend his featherweight title against undefeated contender Movsar Evloev at UFC 333 in Abu Dhabi on October 24, a stylistic puzzle and a high-stakes defence. Ruffy, meanwhile, is locked in for a potential No. 1 contender bout against Arman Tsarukyan in the co-main event of UFC 331 on September 19, a fight that could launch him straight into the title conversation.
Into that furnace walks Adesanya, not as the headliner, not as the reigning champion, but as the veteran looking to rebuild. His presence instantly changes the feel of the room. High-level sparring, elite game-planning, shared experience of championship pressure — all of it now flows both ways between Volkanovski’s world and Adesanya’s next chapter.
His nutritionist has already hinted that this is more than a casual visit, posting about a "full day of eating in camp." That phrase has fueled speculation that Adesanya is not just training to stay sharp, but actively preparing for a return bout, with an announcement potentially close.
Bridging Two Powerhouses
On paper, this move makes sense. Volkanovski has long maintained a strong connection with City Kickboxing, frequently cross-training there during his rise to the featherweight throne. Now the roles are reversed: Adesanya is the one stepping into Volkanovski’s house, effectively bridging two of the Southern Hemisphere’s most influential MMA hubs.
Freestyle MMA offers something Adesanya has openly said he needs at this stage of his career: focused, individual attention. After years at the centre of a booming, crowded camp in Auckland, he has spoken about the importance of tailored work, of refining details rather than juggling endless obligations as the gym’s flagship star.
Sydney gives him that chance. A smaller circle. A different voice in Lopez. Familiar technical minds in Riddell and Hickman. A reigning champion in Volkanovski setting the daily standard. A hungry contender in Ruffy pushing the pace.
For a fighter on a four-fight skid, there are no guarantees. But there is a clear statement in the way Adesanya has chosen to respond: not by fading into the background, not by chasing soft touches, but by throwing himself into a room full of killers and starting again.
The question now is simple and brutal, the kind only this sport asks: can a change of walls, coaches, and training partners be enough to drag one of the most gifted strikers of his era out of a losing streak and back into the chaos of title contention?
