Israel Adesanya has made a major change to his career, announcing on Thursday that he has split with Eugene Bareman and is no longer training at City Kickboxing. After four losses in a row, the 36-year-old says the move is about finding a new edge at a difficult point in his career.
It is a significant decision because Adesanya has been tied to City Kickboxing for most of his UFC journey. He began training there in 2009 and relocated full time in 2010, building the gym into the base from which he became a champion. But after years of success, the relationship has now ended, and Adesanya did not say where he will train next.
Adesanya says the split was the right call
Adesanya said he spoke to Bareman directly before making the decision public. “I spoke to Eugene face-to-face and I told him I am not coming back to CKB,” he said, adding that the move had been building for some time behind the scenes.
He also described the decision as “bittersweet” but insisted it was the correct one for where he is now. “Insanity is doing the same shit and expecting a different result,” Adesanya said, explaining that he felt “focused, individual training” was what he needed next.
That is the central point here. This is not a sudden emotional reaction, but a reset after a spell that has changed the feel of his career. Adesanya said, “I’ve made the decision to leave CKB for my own reasons.”
A gym that helped shape a champion
For Adesanya, the split carries extra weight because City Kickboxing helped define his rise. He credited the gym with developing him into the fighter he became, saying, “CKB made me into the fighter that I am today.”
He also acknowledged the wider impact of the gym, saying it has produced “a lot of great fighters, Greats.” At the same time, he made clear how important he believes he has been to the team’s profile, noting that he was “one of the main pillars that put CKB on the map on the world stage.”
That is not a criticism so much as a reminder of how closely Adesanya and City Kickboxing have been linked. He has spent most of his UFC career there, making his UFC debut in 2018 and becoming a five-time defending middleweight champion before the recent downturn.
What the move means now
The timing makes the decision more striking. Adesanya’s most recent outing ended in March 2026 with a second-round TKO loss to Joe Pyfer, adding another setback to a stretch that has become the toughest of his career.
He had already lost his title to Alex Pereira in 2022 and to Sean Strickland in 2023, before avenging the Pereira loss with a knockout later in 2023. But the run of four losses in a row has clearly forced a rethink, and this split suggests he believes change is now necessary rather than optional.
For now, the only certainty is that Adesanya is no longer tied to the gym that helped make him a UFC star. The next question is where he trains, and whether this new phase can help him rediscover the level that once made him one of the sport’s most reliable names.
