Israel Adesanya is expecting his major career decision this year to pay off.

Amid the worst run of his professional MMA career, the former two-time UFC middleweight champion has been training in a new environment.

Adesanya left the City Kickboxing gym in Auckland after being knocked out by Joe Pyfer this past March, a result that marked his fourth straight loss.

‘The Last Stylebender’ has formed his own team to prepare for his return to action later this year, and the legend insists he will reap the rewards for doing so at UFC Saudi Arabia.

What does the rest of Israel Adesanya’s UFC run look like?

Israel Adesanya feels the best he ever has after forming new team for his UFC return

Before being stopped with strikes by Pyfer, Adesanya was knocked out by Nassourdine Imavov, submitted by Dricus du Plessis, and outpointed by Sean Strickland.

The Nigerian-New Zealander decided change was needed, and that came in the form of a CKB exit and a new training camp.

Now a month out from his return against Shara Magomedov at UFC Saudi Arabia, Adesanya has provided some insight into his new setup.

“How’s training been so far? Training camp has been awesome,” Adesanya said in a recent video on his YouTube channel that delved into how he is now preparing.

“This is like a cliche, everyone says it, ‘The best training camp I’ve ever had.’ But I can truly say, with my departure from my old gym, CKB, and now building the team that I have and training specifically for me, this is the best I’ve felt in a very long time.

“I think this is the best training camp — this is the most fun training camp I’ve had,” he continued. “When was Pereira in New York? 2022? This is the most fun training camp I’ve had in years.

“That’s going to show on fight night.”

At CKB, Adesanya was part of an established training environment alongside several UFC fighters and developing prospects. His new setup, however, gives him the opportunity to build a camp around his individual requirements rather than working within the structure of an established gym.

That could prove particularly important at this stage of his career, with the former middleweight champion needing to address the problems exposed during his recent defeats.

Thanks to his four-fight losing skid, Adesanya is without a win since April 2023, when he knocked out Alex Pereira to regain the middleweight title.

Adesanya will be hoping that his training change paves the way for him to have his hand raised again and to avoid becoming the latest legend to end their career with a brutal run of defeats.

Many fans have already called for ‘The Last Stylebender’ to call it quits. Those cries will only get louder if Adesanya fails to beat Magomedov despite his positive comments about the team switch.

‘Bullet’ has also yet to convince the masses of his ability to compete near the top of the middleweight division. And having lost to a similar fighter in Michael ‘Venom’ Page, Magomedov could be the perfect opponent against whom Adesanya can bounce back.