Eugene Bareman: Israel Adesanya 'has to do some soul searching'

City Kickboxing head coach Eugene Bareman will stand by Israel Adesanya no matter what he decides to do.

Adesanya (24-6 MMA, 13-6 UFC) suffered his fourth straight loss when he was finished by Joe Pyfer (16-3 MMA, 6-1 UFC) in the UFC Fight Night 271 main event in Seattle this past February.

While many have encouraged him to retire, the former UFC middleweight champion insists he's not done fighting.

"It's a tough one because I would fully support him if he turned around and said that he didn't want to fight," Bareman told Submission Radio. "But I'm also in a position where I will fully support him if he turns around and says he is going to fight. We've been together since the start, and that's not going to change."

Bareman acknowledges that Adesanya still looked competitive in his recent losses. He won Round 1 against Pyfer on all three judges' scorecards before he was ultimately stopped by TKO in Round 2.

Bareman thinks the rebound will be more of a mental battle than physical.

"I know where the changes have to be made for Israel, and I'm not going to talk about those publicly, but you see glimmers, right?" Bareman said. "You see glimmers of the old Israel. So, it's just about turning those glimmers into longer sustained bouts of effort. He just has to do some soul searching, mate, like you do after every fight.

"Every fighter after they lose has to tuck themselves away in the forest or in a dark room for 24 hours or whatever they do. They have to figure life out so that's just what Israel has to do. Then he'll figure out where he wants to go from here. He has to find it inside him. He has to search deep this time."

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Israel Adesanya 'has to do some soul searching,' coach says