Israel Adesanya's coach has spoken about his fighter's upcoming UFC world title fight, with the Kiwi-Nigerian to face Kelvin Gastelum for the interim middleweight belt.
Having beaten his hero Anderson Silva at UFC 234 in Melbourne earlier this month, Adesanya, 29, will square off against Gastelum , named as a replacement for Kiwi-born Australian fighter Robert Whittaker.
Speaking to 1 NEWS today, Adesanya's coach Eugene Bareman spoke about what the bout means, not just for his fighter, but for New Zealand mixed martial arts as a whole.
"[We're] over the moon that we got the deal across," he said.
"Over the moon that now we have another New Zealander after Mark Hunt, challenging for the biggest prize in MMA.
"It's another piece of historical New Zealand MMA history that's about to take place."
Bareman also revealed the process behind getting the fight after Adesanya was offered the chance for a title shot by UFC president Dana White.
"We knew that this scenario might play out.
"We were approached - not immediately after the fight - but a few days after, about working a deal to get this fight over the line for this date.
"Me and the management team have been steadily working on piecing together this deal, since the last fight happened. They gave us a few days to wait, but they got onto us pretty quickly."
Adesanya will fight Gastelum at UFC 236 in April, with no venue finalised as of yet.
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