Israel Adesanya says his flabby pectoral could be due to smoking marijuana before UFC 253

Reigning UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya recently had a chat with TMZ where he opened up about his flabby pectoral muscle that sent Twitter into a frenzy at UFC 253. During his fight with Paulo Costa – which he ended up winning via TKO in the second round – The Last Stylebender was pictured with an abnormally large right pectoral which forced many to believe that took an illegal performance-enhancing drug before the event.

However, Israel Adesanya recently claimed that he was checked before and after the bout and the officials found no signs of performance-enhancing drugs in his body. He claimed his pituitary gland was checked and hormone levels were also “fine”. Israel Adesanya then admitted that he frequently smokes marijuana and that could be one of the reasons behind the flabby pectoral muscle. He said he found out about it the same this week when he had an ‘ultrasound and a mammogram’.

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He claimed that the doctors advised him to stop smoking, but he declined, stating, “I'm not stopping. I'm just going to slow down on the smoking weed.” The reporter later asked Israel Adesanya whether he had taken steroids before the bout, but the champion was adamant that “skills pay the bills”. “F*** no! F*** no! I know you believe me, but come on,” Adesanya said when asked about steroids.

Israel Adesanya made those comments on marijuana the same week Dana White admitted that the UFC is working to “loosen up” rules around fighters smoking weed. While the UFC president claims some rules regarding marijuana need to be changed, he still wants his fighters to be tested for drugs as he doesn’t want anyone to enter the octagon “high”. Currently, the state commissions fine, suspend or ban fighters if they test positive for marijuana consumption before or after the event.

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Israel Adesanya next fight: What’s next for Israel Adesanya?

Both Israel Adesanya and Dana White recently confirmed that the middleweight king would move up to the light heavyweight division to fight champion Jan Blachowicz for the 205lb strap. Israel Adesanya was initially scheduled to fight number one contender Robert Whittaker in a rematch, but those plans were torn up after Whittaker denied to fight the Last Stylebender. Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker first fought at UFC 243, where Adesanya TKOed The Reaper to win the middleweight crown.

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