"I don't say 'good luck' to my opponents. I say, 'Bring your best,'" Adesanya said. "There's no manners then. You're getting a different me. It's a different side of the same coin. Or a cube. Yes. I'm a cube. A Rubik's cube." —Israel Adesanya
Born: Israel Mobolaji Temitayo Odunayo Oluwafemi Owolabi Adesanya
22 July 1989 (age 31)Nigeria
Nickname(s) The Last Stylebender
Residence: Auckland, New Zealand
Nationality NigerianNew Zealander
Height193 cm (6 ft 4 in)
Weight84 kg (185 lb; 13 st 3 lb)
Division Middleweight
Reach80 in (203 cm)
Style Kickboxing, Boxing
Stance Orthodox and Southpaw
Fighting out of Auckland, New Zealand
Team City Kickboxing (2010–present)[4]
Trainer: Eugene Bareman: Head coach: Andrei Păuleț: Wrestling
Rank: Blue belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu under
Years active: 2009–present
Israel blends different martial arts with his unusual style and takes inspiration from culture and his experiences.
From orthodox stance to southpaw, he’s fluid in movement just like when he was in dance cyphers in his youth. Krump, pop and lock, and breaking are all styles of dance that he’s been influenced with growing up.
Israel’s first introduction to Martial Arts was Taekwondo when he was 8 years old. At that time his mother pulled him out for being too rowdy and injuring himself at home.
I think I almost got my yellow belt then my mom kind of pulled me out because I was just wrecking shop around the house kicking everything I broke my arm doing backflips off the couch and she was just like “Nah no more” —Joe Rogan Podcast
In his teenage years after he watched the action Muay Thai movie Ong Bak, Israel was inspired and started training in 2018. He trained Muay Thai under Derek Broughton in Whanganui, New Zealand.
“Six weeks later, I had my first [kickboxing] fight. Crazy. That was 2008 and I was still a teenager.”
In 2010, Israel would move to Auckland, New Zealand to train under Eugene Bareman at City Kickboxing. He’s been with Eugene ever since racking up 80 Kickboxing and 20 MMA fights.
Believing in a complete MMA game, Israel also trains wrestling and Jiu Jitsu to complement his striking. In 2017, André Galvão promoted Adesanya to the rank of Jiu Jitsu blue-belt.
“For me, in the back of my mind, I don’t know if it’s my ego or just me being anxious,” Adesanya said. “I just felt if I ever run up on a guy with a jiu-jitsu black belt or a really good wrestler, he’d be able to fuck me up without even throwing a single punch.
I can’t, as a man, I can’t live with that. Feeling vulnerable. Like someone might have an advantage in another area, in the ground or against the fence.”
“This is martial arts. You have to evolve and keep learning,” Adesanya said. “And, man, you jump to MMA, there’s so much to learn. There’s what you know, there’s what you don’t know and there’s what you don’t know you don’t know, which is infinite. That’s why you want to keep learning.”
