Former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya says he will return to the cage sooner rather than later — and is content that his immediate future will likely not involve a world title opportunity.

‘Stylebender’ was defeated by reigning 185-pound champ Dricus du Plessis in August, submitting to a fourth-round face crank applied by the South African in the UFC 305 headliner in Perth, Australia.

The defeat was Adesanya’s third in his past four bouts following losses to both Alex Pereira and Sean Strickland in recent times (as well as a KO win over Pereira in April of last year) — and while he says that a rematch with Du Plessis will come later, for now he is happy just get some action in.

“That will come later on,” he said of renewing his rivalry with Du Plessis on The Adam Carolla Show, via MMA Junkie.

“Right now, after I just fought him, I don’t think it’s going to be immediately. I’d rather just fight, not really for the belt, just fight for fighting’s sake,” he said.

“Even though I don’t have the belt, they still have got my name in their mouth. I’m still Israel Adesanya. For me, I’ll let them call me out or whatever. At the moment, I want to fight one more time before the end of this year or early next year. I don’t know yet.”

A queue appears to be forming atop the UFC middleweight division, directly behind Du Plessis. Later this month, Robert Whittaker and Khamzat Chimaev are expected to fight in Abu Dhabi in a bout that will have consequences at the summit of the division, while Sean Strickland’s recent split decision win against Paulo Costa has also placed him back in contention.

“I’m just training, building up where we left off. I’ll get the call at some point with a few options,” Adesanya explained of his next move.

“I think Dana will hit me up at some point. Strickland is going to fight Du Plessis first. I think he’s next. So even see how that plays out, see how the Rob-Khamzat fight plays out, and there are some other young guys on the come up. So yeah, we’ll see.”