UFC Champion Israel Adesanya, a well-known Nigerian-New Zealander mixed martial artist, has once again mentioned his love for Nigeria, but this time added that the country is corrupt. On the Hotboxin’ podcast, the MMA fighter who recently defeated Pereira professed his affection for his adopted country while discussing Nigeria’s corruption.
He stated that the government and some of its citizens are constantly looking for ways to syphon money from the country’s coffers or defraud others.
UFC Champion Israel Adesanya likes Nigeria, but it is an extremely corrupt country, according to him.
The UFC Champion Israel Adesanya was the eldest of five children born in Lagos, Nigeria. Adesanya attended Chrisland School in Opebi and was a member of its Taekwondo after-school club until his mother pulled him due to an injury. He moved to Ghana with his family for ten months in 1999, but because his parents wanted their children to get a well-recognized higher education, he settled in Rotorua, New Zealand, at the age of ten and attended Rotorua Boys’ High School. During high school, Adesanya was less interested in sports and more interested in Japanese anime such as Death Note and the manga series Naruto. Adesanya was bullied in high school and credits his desire to pursue martial arts later in life to the maltreatment he endured.
Israel Adesanya then enrolled in a Bachelor of Science in Computer Design programme at the Universal College of Learning in Whanganui after graduating from high school. He began training in kickboxing at the age of 18 after being inspired by the Muay Thai film Ong-Bak. Two years later, Adesanya decided to discontinue his studies in order to pursue a career in kickboxing, and he went on to accumulate a 32-0 amateur record before going professional and competing in China. The now UFC champion Israel Adesanya relocated to Auckland, New Zealand, at the age of 21, and began training in mixed martial arts under Eugene Bareman at City Kickboxing, with future UFC fighters Dan Hooker, Kai Kara-France, and current UFC Featherweight Champion Alexander Volkanovski. Andrei Păuleţ, a Romanian New Zealander, coaches him in wrestling.
UFC Champion Israel Adesanya recently stunned longtime rival Alex Pereira to win back the middleweight title at UFC 287 in Miami, Florida. With this win, Adesanya makes up for three prior losses to Pereira. In kickboxing matches in 2016 and 2017, as well as at UFC 281, he suffered two defeats.
According to Adesanya, his fights with Pereira has created the greatest MMA storyline in history. After his second kickboxing loss in 2017, Israel Adesanya made the switch to MMA full-time, and he went on to win the UFC middleweight championship in 2019 and dominate the division for three years while successfully defending the unified title five times.
