Israel Adesanya talks during a press conference for UFC 248 at Toyota Center on February 07, 2020 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
Israel Adesanya spent quite a bit of time in China but is he Chinese?
Israel Adesanya is one of the greatest combat sports athletes ever. The Nigerian-born star now fights as a New Zealander after his parents moved when Adesanya was young.
Israel Adesanya still speaks about Africa since that is the continent where he was born, but he also spent quite a bit of time in China.
Adesanya has a stellar UFC record with only two losses to his name. However, the Kiwi also fought in boxing and kickboxing. Israel Adesanya has a great record in both these disciplines too and during his early days he fought in China.
A video went viral a few years back of Adesanya donning the Chinese flag. However, Israel Adesanya is not Chinese and he even spoke about starring in a few commercials during his days in the Asian country,
While Adesanya didn’t bring up his nationality or the part about donning the flag, he did confirm starring in several commercials during his days in China (h/t Sportskeeda):
“I grabbed a random baby. and when they came off the hook, I grabbed it off from the dad. so I’m like the thing goes, My Family in China blah blah blah.. it looks like I’m like part of this Chinese man, and I’m grabbing the baby…I feel like it’s just kind of funny, I see some of it not too much of it but some of it, and I’m like.. ahh that’s right. but aye man, I made money.”
The Last Stylebender also spoke about how it took time for him to adjust to the Chinese culture but he won the fans over. Thanks to his desire to keep fighting and picking up wins, he was called The Black Dragon during his time in China.
The UFC Middleweight Champion will be up against a rival who has made several personal remarks against Adesanya.
Sean Strickland will be keen to win the belt from Izzy on Saturday as UFC 293 features their clash as the main event. Strickland has blasted Adesanya for his links to China, but Izzy hasn’t paid heed to some of the comments made by Strickland.
The fight was set up since Dricus Du Plessis picked up an injury and could not face Adesanya. Adesanya has never met Strickland in the octagon, but he should be the favourite for this bout.
The champion is back to winning ways after losing his belt to Alex Pereira at UFC 281. However, he knocked out the Brazilian in their rematch at UFC 287 and will hope to do the same to Strickland at UFC 293.
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