Israel Mobolaji Odunayo Oluwafemi Temitayo Owolabi Adesanya is a Nigerian-New Zealander professional mixed martial artist, kickboxer, and former boxer with multiple championships in all three disciplines.
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As a mixed martial artist, he currently competes in the Middleweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is the former UFC Middleweight Champion. In kickboxing, he is a former Glory Middleweight Championship title, challenger.
Adesanya made his professional debut in 2012, with a TKO win against James Griffiths. He scored another TKO win against John Vake, before taking a two-year hiatus from mixed martial arts.
In December 2017, it was announced that Adesanya had signed a contract with the UFC. He made his debut against Rob Wilkinson on 11 February 2018, at UFC 221.[53] He won the fight via technical knockout in the second round.
Adesanya is widely regarded as one of the best strikers in mixed martial arts, both offensively and defensively. As of 23 August 2022, he is #2 in the UFC men’s pound-for-pound rankings.
Israel Adesanya Parents: Who are Oluwafemi Adesanya and Taiwo Adesanya?
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.
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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.
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