Israel Adesanya is the former UFC middleweight champion of the world. He defended his middleweight title five times before losing it to Alex Pereira at UFC 281. But, till the moment of his loss, Adesanya was dominant in the fight. As a matter of fact, he ruled over the whole division with an iron fist before eventually losing the belt.
Let’s take a look at his career and personal life. Israel Adesanya made his debut against Rob Wilkinson at UFC 221. Ever since then, Adesanya made it very clear that he was the man for the future. And Izzy continued on that path in his first year in the UFC. He fought five times in one year since his debut.
Israel Adesanya went through Marvin Vettori, Brad Tavares, and Derek Brunson in his first four fights. Then came the biggest moment of his career till then. Adesanya came face to face with his idol Anderson Silva. They had the opportunity to headline UFC 234 in Australia. The card was originally set to be headlined by Robert Whittaker vs Kelvin Gastelum for the middleweight championship.
Adesanya made a quick turnaround after beating Anderson Silva. He took on Kelvin Gastelum for the interim 185 lbs championship. In perhaps the best and the most entertaining fight of his career, Stylebender beat Gastelum in a five-round slugfest. Then came UFC 243.
From his entrance at the event to his performance against a dangerous opponent Robert Whittaker, the event shot him to superstardom. Adesanya captured the undisputed title from Whittaker. The fight ended in a vicious second-round KO.
The Nigerian Native went on to have 5 title defenses. His first title defense came against Yoel Romero at UFC 248. Adesanya then defeated Paulo Costa and Marvin Vettori once again at UFC 253 and UFC 263 respectively. He also had a hiccup against Jan Blachowicz. In his quest to become a double champ, Adesanya challenged Jan at UFC 259. But he failed as Blachowicz won via unanimous decision.
He also defeated Robert Whittaker for the second time at UFC 271 and then Jared Cannonier at UFC 276.
Israel Adesanya: Personal life and family
Israel Mobolaji Temitayo Odunayo Oluwafemi Owolabi Adesanya is a native of Nigeria. He was born on July 2 of 1989 in Lagos, Nigeria. In a recent video on his YouTube channel, Adesanya revealed that his family moved to New Zealand in 2001. His father was an accountant back in Nigeria. Hence they did not have to struggle early on in their life.
Israel Adesanya’s father’s name is Oluwafemi Adesanya and his mother is called Taiwo Adesanya. She was a nurse by profession. According to Wikipedia, Israel Adesanya has four other siblings. He is the oldest amongst them. Before moving to New Zealand, they also stayed in Ghana for a brief period of time.
Adesanya completed his schooling in New Zealand. He later decided to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Design. From there he found a love for martial arts and started training. He has also lived in Asia in order extend his kickboxing career.
His interests and hobbies
Israel Adesanya’s love for Anime is very well documented. Japanese form of an animated cartoon is known as Anime. Izzy’s nickname ‘Stylebender’ is a reference to the very popular anime series ‘The Last Airbender’. Adesanya also owns a McLaren which he named ‘Kurama’. It is in reference to an anime series by the name of ‘Naruto’.
The dating life of Israel Adesanya
For fans who are wondering who Israel Adesanya is dating, we have good news and bad. Although we have a few pictures of him with his alleged girlfriend, we do not know her name as of now.
There is a photo of him posing with his girlfriend with the UFC championship belt.
Another photo of him is circulating around the internet which has him in a bathtub with his girlfriend. But it does not look like Izzy is involved with the female in the pictures anymore. There are reports circulating that Israel Adesanya was dating Australian model Shana Evers.
Shana shared a picture of them together earlier in 2022. But there were speculations if they were indeed dating or not. But the doubts cleared up when Izzy posted a video of him with Shana during a vacation. Although he seemed happy, fans trolled him for the video and called Shana a Kim Kardashian lookalike.
Israel Adesanya’s Brother
Israel Adesanya has a younger brother. David Adesanya is 4 years younger than him. However, he did not follow the footsteps of his brother. David is the man behind Adesanya’s YouTube channel ‘FREESTYLEBENDER’. Adesanya could be heard calling him ‘Dave Blackamoto’.
David is also a part of Izzy’s fight camps. He is in charge of documenting the training footage and all the interviews leading up to each event.
