Israel Adesanya biography, age, career, wife, kids, net worth

Israel Mobolaji Temitayo Odunayo Oluwafemi Owolabi Adesanya (born 22 July 1989) is a Nigerian and New Zealand professional mixed martial artist, kickboxer, and former boxer with multiple championships in all three disciplines.

As a mixed martial artist, Israel Adesanya currently competes in the Middleweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is the current and two-time UFC Middleweight Champion.

In kickboxing, he is a former Glory Middleweight Championship title challenger. As of March 21, 2023, he is #5 in the UFC men’s pound-for-pound rankings.

Adesanya was not interested in sports during high school; instead, he was interested in Japanese anime such as Death Note and the manga series Naruto. Adesanya was bullied during his high school years and attributes the mistreatment he experienced to his decision to pursue martial arts later in life.

Israel Adesanya’ Biography

Adesanya was born in Lagos, Nigeria, the eldest of five children. His father, Oluwafemi, is an accountant and his mother, Taiwo, is a nurse. Adesanya attended Chrisland School, Opebi, and enrolled in its Taekwondo after-school club until he was removed by his mother due to an injury.

In 1999, he relocated to Ghana with his family for 10 months, but due to his parents wanting their children to receive a well-recognised higher education, he settled in Rotorua, New Zealand, at age 10 and attended Rotorua Boys’ High School. Adesanya was not interested in sports during high school; instead, he was interested in Japanese anime such as Death Note and the manga series Naruto. Adesanya was bullied during his high school years and attributes the mistreatment he experienced to his decision to pursue martial arts later in life.

Following high school graduation, Adesanya enrolled in a Bachelor of Science in Computer Design at the Universal College of Learning in Whanganui. At the age of 18, he started training in kickboxing, after being inspired by the Muay Thai film Ong-Bak.

Two years later Adesanya made the decision to cease his studies in pursuit of a career in kickboxing and went on to amass an amateur record of 32–0 before turning professional and fighting in China. At the age of 21, Adesanya moved to Auckland, New Zealand, and began training in mixed martial arts under Eugene Bareman at City Kickboxing, with future UFC fighters such as Dan Hooker, Kai Kara-France and current UFC Featherweight Champion Alexander Volkanovski.

He trains in wrestling under the Romanian New Zealander Andrei Păuleț. Adesanya is multilingual. He is fluent in Yoruba, Nigerian Pidgin, and English.

Professional kickboxing career

In May 2010, Adesanya won the first fight of his seven-fight winning streak, defeating Tim Atonio by unanimous decision. He won his next six fights, fighting almost exclusively with Wu Lin Feng in China. His winning streak earned him a place in the 2014 Kunlun Fight 80 kg tournament, held during Kunlun Fight 2.

He lost the semifinal bout against Simon Marcus by an extra-round split decision. Adesanya afterward made his Glory debut at Glory 15, when he faced Filip Verlinden. Verlinden won the fight by unanimous decision. The two of them fought a rematch at Glory of Heroes 3, two years after their first fight, with Adesanya winning a unanimous decision.

Adesanya participated in the King in the Ring Cruiserweights II tournament of the regional circuit in New Zealand. In the quarterfinal, he beat Slava Alexeichik by unanimous decision, in the semifinal he beat Pati Afoa by knockout and won the tournament with a knockout of Jamie Eades. Six months later, he took part in the 2015 Cruiserweights III tournament.

He scored technical knockouts of Kim Loudon and Mark Timms in the quarterfinal and semifinal bouts respectively, before winning the tournament for the second time with a first-round knockout of Pati Afoa.

Moving up in weight, Adesanya participated in 2015 The Heavyweights III, as well. He defeated Nase Foai by TKO in the quarterfinal and Dan Roberts by KO in the semifinal, before facing Jamie Eades in the finals. The two had previously met in the final of the 2014 Cruiserweight tournament. Adesanya won the tournament final by unanimous decision.

Israel Adesanya’s net worth

Before taking up fighting, Adesanya regularly competed in dance competitions across New Zealand. He highlighted his passion for dance in a choreographed walkout at UFC 243.

Adesanya is a fan of anime and has stated he would like to start an anime production company after retiring from fighting. His nickname “The Last Stylebender” is a reference to Avatar: The Last Airbender, an anime-influenced cartoon series. Adesanya has the image of one of the show’s main characters, Toph Beifong, tattooed on his forearm.

In September 2020, he became the first mixed martial arts athlete to sign a sponsorship deal with Puma.

Israel Adesanya’s controversies

In February 2020, Adesanya came under fire for comments made at the UFC 248 pre-fight press conference, where he said he would make opponent Yoel Romero “crumble like the Twin Towers”, referencing the September 11 attacks.

The following day, Adesanya made an apology on his Instagram page, saying “I was simply rambling and my brain worked faster than my mouth in a moment to choose the wrong euphemism. You speak on the mic enough times and you’re bound to miss the mark with some bars. I did on this one and for that I’m sorry. I’ll be more careful in future with my words.”

On 25 March 2021, New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Sport, Grant Robertson, spoke out against Adesanya’s “flippant comments” on his Instagram “Bro, I will fuckin’ rape you” aimed at fellow UFC middleweight fighter, Kevin Holland.

Robertson commented “I’m sure Israel understands that, I believe he has deleted the tweet in question. It will be up to the UFC as to what they do. But I would certainly be making clear to him [Adesanya], and to anybody actually, that we have to take rape seriously. It’s not an issue that anyone should be making jokes or flippant comments about at all.”

On 16 November 2022, Adesanya was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City for the possession of brass knuckles.

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