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From his upbringing in Lagos to becoming a 2-time UFC champion here is all you need to know about Israel Adesanya.
This article is a deep dive into Nigerian-born New Zealand professional mixed martial artist Israel Mobolaji Temitayo Odunayo Oluwafemi Owolabi Adesanya.
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Israel Adesanya early beginnings
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On July 22, 1989, Israel Adesanya was born in Lagos, Nigeria.
He and his family relocated to Ghana ten years later, and then they ended up moving to New Zealand.
While Adesanya's father, Oluwafemi, works as an accountant, his mother, Taiwo, is a nurse.
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According to the former UFC middleweight champion, his family was relatively well-off.
The Adesanya's spent about eleven months residing in Ghana.
After that, Oluwafemi and Taiwo moved to New Zealand in an effort to give their children access to a better education.
Adesanya in Nigeria
The former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya will go down in history as one of the greatest mixed martial artists of all time.
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The Nigerian-born New Zealand native has created a name for himself in a brief stint in the UFC.
Of his five siblings—Deborah, Samuel, David, Bolu, and himself—he is the oldest.
Adesanya was brought up by an upper-class family and is of Yoruba ethnicity with African roots in Nigeria.
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One of the largest ethnic groups in Africa, the Yoruba people are mostly found in Nigeria.
Growing up, he spoke the Yoruba language, which is a synthesis of Niger and Combo.
The former middleweight champion had previously stated that he feels fortunate to have come from a wealthy family and that he had a pleasant childhood.
He completed his elementary schooling at Opebi's Chrisland School in Ikeja, Lagos. After that, he finished high school in Ota, Ogun State.
During his time in the respective schools, Adesanya showed a strong interest in both dancing and martial arts.
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He tried to learn by imitating his buddies' dance routines when they went out on the town.
In order to give their children a quality education, his parents chose to leave their home nation before he could finish his secondary education.
After ten months in Ghana, they considered their options for the future.
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Adesanya in New Zealand
On the southern edge of Lake Rotorua in the North Island of New Zealand, they made their home in Rotorua city.
Israel Adesanya was bullied at Rotorua Boys' High School when he was eleven years old.
'The Last Stylebender,' as Adesanya is often called, described his early years in New Zealand as cultural shock.
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When Israel Adesanya was younger, she preferred reading Japanese manga series like Naruto and Death Note to participating in combat sports.
However, in 2008, after seeing one of Tony Jaa's classic Ong-Bak films, he started to take a liking to fighting.
After training for six weeks in Muay Thai, 19-year-old Adesanya started his path into combat sports.
Since then, he's participated in professional boxing, kickboxing, and mixed martial arts.
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Adesanya and UFC
Israel Adesanya, who has grown to be a fan favorite, assisted in increasing UFC's presence in Africa.
The striking prodigy established his value in the mixed martial arts community and went on to become the UFC's second-ever African-born champion.
Together with former heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou and welterweight champion Kamaru Usman, Adesanya has made a significant contribution to the growth of the UFC's fan base throughout the vast African continent.
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The influence of Adesanya has given the UFC's top brass the desire to visit Africa, even if the organization hasn't done it yet.
Adesanya's professional MMA career
They were thinking about the US and stuck with New Zealand because the US was in disarray following 9/11.
Israel finished his last year of high school in the city of Rotorua, where the family settled.
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Adesanya has a tattoo that says "Broken Native," which translates to "odd one out."
Growing up in New Zealand, he observed everyone concentrating on their academics in the hopes of obtaining a full-time paid position.
The 19-year-old Adesanya made the decision to veer from that course and concentrate on a mixed martial arts career.
His inspiration came from seeing the 2008 film "Ong-Bak." In 2003, the action thriller.
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After a year of Muay Thai training, he faced Neroni Savaiinaea in 2009 in his sole amateur MMA match. That bout was unanimously decided against him.
After his defeat, Adesanya chose to continue learning from Eugene Bareman and never gave up.
He was in Adesanya's corner when the player lost the game, and the coach made the decision not to give him any more lessons if he ever came to him.
Adesanya made a strong enough appeal, and Bareman eventually granted it, taking Adesanya under his wing.
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He learned both basic and advanced boxing and kickboxing techniques from the coach.
In pursuit of a major break, Adesanya applied for several promotions while racing to an 11-0 career record from 2012 to 2017.
In early 2018, his efforts were rewarded when he secured a contract with the UFC.
In his debut matchup with Rob Wilkinson, he prevailed with an outstanding TKO.
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At UFC 243, he squared off against Robert Whittaker for the middleweight championship, continuing his incredible development as a fighter.
After defeating Whitaker via knockout, Adesanya won the title.
For a time now, "The Last Stylebender" has been the unbeaten man in the middleweight class.
In an attempt to become a dual division champion, he challenged Jan Blachowicz for the light heavyweight championship at UFC 259 in March.
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His first defeat as a professional came from Blachowicz's unanimous decision victory.
When Adesanya returned to the middleweight class, things wouldn't go as planned.
Israel Adesanya vs Alex Pereira rivalry
Adesanya and Pereira squared off in their first-ever match at GLORY of Heroes 1 in China in 2016.
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Despite Adesanya's superior physical strength, Pereira made some damaging combos and shots.
Pereira may have slowed down in the end, depending on your point of view, but Adesanya was unable to capitalize as the Brazilian went on to win by unanimous decision.
Pereira and Adesanya squared up in their second meeting at GLORY of Heroes 7 in 2017. In the Brazilian town where Pereira was born, Adesanya was the one to initiate contact.
In the second round, the Nigerian appeared set for retribution as he had Pereira by the ropes, but it was not meant to be.
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Adesanya was knocked out in the third meeting by a brutal blow to the chin from Pereira.
Adesanya had never been knocked out before in his career until that point.
Adesanya and Pereira in the UFC
Adesanya won the middleweight title in 2019 after defeating Robert Whittaker in the UFC after signing with them in 2018.
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In just his eighth MMA match, Pereira defeated Sean Strickland to win the gold. Pereira joined the UFC in November 2021.
Adesanya enjoyed nearly six minutes of control time at UFC 281 and scored 86 meaningful blows out of 209 attempts.
Adesanya was forced to the cage by Pereira, who connected on 91 of his 140 blows, including several vicious ones in the fifth round.
Unprotected strikes stopped, and the referee decided enough was enough.
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With a TKO victory, Pereira defeated his opponent to claim the title and a 3-0 lead.
Rematches between the two were inevitable when Alex Pereira became the first person to defeat Israel Adesanya in the octagon at 185 pounds, taking away his middleweight title in the process.
The fact that Adesanya was actually 0-3 overall versus "Poatan" was irrelevant.
It made sense, given his legendary reputation and level of popularity in the UFC.
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In contrast to their last bout, the majority of onlookers appeared to be siding with the Brazilian this time.
After all, he had already shown himself to be Adesanya's kryptonite three times.
By exacting his retribution in the second round, "The Last Stylebender" achieved what was probably the most satisfying victory of his career.
To get revenge for yet another setback, Israel Adesanya will have to start over from scratch.
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Adesanya after Pereira
Following that, American Sean Strickland decisively defeated Adesanya.
The fight was scored 49-46 in favor of Strickland by all three judges.
Adesanya didn't seem his best in the UFC octagon saying he occasionally appeared sluggish and lifeless.
Adesanya is scheduled to make his octagon comeback against South Africa's Dricus Du Plessis as the main event of UFC 305 after a year off.
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