Georgia’s Beno Adamia (11-8-2) was supposed to face Sam Creasey for the Oktagon MMA flyweight title last November, only for the fight to fall through just prior to the bout arriving after Creasy was injured.
The fight is back on, however, set to headline Oktagon 67 this Saturday. And Adamia, who hasn’t suffered defeat in MMA since 2019, never stopped training the entire time, he told Cageside Press in a recent exclusive interview.
“I don’t know how he feels, about him I don’t know but for me, I never stop. I’m always training,” exclaimed Adamia. “When I heard that he was injured, I thought I would fight for an interim title fight maybe. I still continued training, but there was no one. But non-stop, still like running, sparring, wrestling, BJJ and stuff like this. Always without stop.”
While physically Beno Adamia pushed through, mentally, he did struggle to overcome the fight falling through so close to the night of the event.
“It was so sad a moment I almost cried. It was so [close to the] fight. It’s fine, it happens. MMA is such a dangerous sport, and it’s often injuries happen,” Adamia observed. “It’s okay, it’s fine for me now. Now I’m prepared to fight February 22, and it’s okay.”
Adamia has picked up back-to-back wins in Oktagon MMA, and is 5-0-1 in the cage since his last loss, in 2019. Prior to that, he had struggled through a 1-4 stretch. Asked what changed, Adamia revealed that it came down to his mental approach to fighting.
“I changed my mentality. My last loss was in 2019, it was so sad, a sad moment for me, this time,” he explained. “I changed my gym, I changed my mentality. My mentality now is win or die. When you go into the cage you have to win. If you don’t win, you’d better die there.”
Adamia trains at Champions Academy in Tbilisi, Georgia alongside the likes of Mate Sanikidze and Amiran Gogoladze. He credits Georgia’s tough times, including Russia’s 2008 invasion of its southern neighbour, for creating tough fighters including the likes of Merab Dvalishvili, Roman Dolidze and others.
As far as his own match-up with Sam Creasey and what he expects from his opponent, “I think he will be prepared fully, he will be recovered, he won’t [get] winded,” said Adamia, looking ahead to Oktagon 67. “He’ll be fully ready for the fight, and I’m the same. Now it’s time to just cut the weight, and all will be good.”
Watch our full interview with Oktagon 67 headliner and title challenger Beno Adamia above.
