Israel Adesanya didn’t expect to have his name called on Saturday night.
Following Shara Magomedov’s amazing double backfist knockout of Armen Petrosyan that kicked off the UFC 308 main card, Magomedov—popularly known as “Shara Bullet”—declared himself the best striker in the middleweight division and targeted Adesanya for his next fight.
In a reaction video posted to his YouTube, Adesanya evoked a pair of memes to react to the callout.
“Keep my name out your f*cking mouth,” Adesanya said with a laugh, bringing up the famous clip of Will Smith threatening Chris Rock at the 2022 Academy Awards ceremony.
He then added, “What the f*ck did I do? What he say f*ck me, for?” a reference to rapper 50 Cent’s confused reaction to being verbally attacked by boxer Floyd Mayweather in 2014.
According to Magomedov, he has been pursuing a bout with Adesanya since the two were competitors on the Chinese kickboxing circuit. That might be news to Adesanya, who didn’t appear to acknowledge any prior history with the undefeated contender.
Adesanya, a two-time UFC champion, is coming off of a submission loss to rival Dricus du Plessis this past August. He was attempting to win the middleweight title a third time, but instead lost for the third time in four fights.
Watch Adesanya’s UFC 308 reaction video below.
