Table of Biography
Israel Mobolaji Adesanya is a martial artist, kickboxer as well as a boxer. Israel Mobolaji is a former Glory middleweight winner and King in the Ring cruiserweight and heavyweight champion. Therefore, he is also the UFC interim middleweight champion.
Early Life and Childhood
Israel Adesanya was born Israel Mobolaji Adesanya, born on the 22nd of July 1989 in Lagos, Nigeria. He was born to his mother, Taiwo Adesanya, who is a nurse, and to his father, Femi Adesanya, who is an accountant. He is 33 years old and Cancer is his birth sign.
His siblings are, Deborah, Samuel, David, and Bolu and he is the eldest one. While he was a kid, Adesanya had the freedom to participate in any sport of his choice and he chose Taekwondo. He has a blue belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
In early 2001, he moved to Ghana with his family for 10 months. Due to his parents wanting their children to receive a well-recognized higher education, he settled in Rotorua, New Zealand at the age of 10.
Caption: Israel Adesanya with his father Femi in August 2014
source: Wikipedia
Education
Adesanya had his primary or basic education at Chrisland School at Opebi in Ikeja, Lagos. He thereafter progressed to Bells Secondary School at Ota in Ogun state for his high school education.
When he moved to New Zealand, he began martial arts classes. Likewise, he used to get heavily bullied during his high school years and connected the mistreatment he experienced to his decision to pursue martial arts later in life.
The family eventually opted for a move to New Zealand, where they made their new home in the city of Rotorua on the country’s north island. Constantly, he enrolled at Rotorua Boy’s High School to complete his high school education.
Awards
The famous fighter, Israel Adesanya has won many awards. He won the Performance of the Night award on 6th July 2018 against Brad Tavares and the Fight of the Night award on February 10, 2019, at UFC 234.
Similarly, he has won the 2018 Newcomer of the Year, 2018 Breakthrough Fighter of the Year, 2018 Rising Star of the Year, and many more.
Caption: Israel Adesanya on UFC contender Paulo
source: givemesport.com
Israel Adesanya – Net Worth 2023
Talking about his earnings, he has so far made the UFC career earnings of about $558000. The estimated net worth of Israel in the year 2021 is $2 million.
Likewise, he earned the career-high match earning of $172,000 at UFC 230 including $59,000 to show, a $59,000 win bonus, a $50,000 performance of the Night bonus, and $ 4,000 fight week incentive pay.
Moreover, he was awarded $112,000 including $56,000 to show and a $56,000 win bonus at TUF 27.
In September 2020, he became the first mixed martial arts athlete who signed a sponsorship deal with Puma. Moreover, he also signed as an ambassador for Stake.com in January 2021. Apart from that, he has endorsed the 2020 New Zealand cannabis referendum.
Career and Professional Life
Disgusted from trending on the herd-like path, an 18-year-old Israel Adesanya resolved to ditch studying and pursue his interests in martial arts after he watched the 2003 Thriller/Action movie, ‘Ong-Bak‘ in the year 2008.
The teenager got himself trained in Muay Thai for a year and stubbornly went against his coach’s (Derek Broughton) will to have his first and last amateur MMA fight with a certain Neroni Savaiinaea in 2009.
Although Adesenaya lost the fight, he didn’t miss the lesson of the experience.
Eugene worked with Adesanya to help him master the elements of boxing and kickboxing. Although Adesanya recorded a few losses in the aforementioned combat sports, he worked extremely hard to avoid further losses after starting his professional MMA career in 2012.
Also, in March 2014, he became the first New Zealander to sign a deal with the Glory promotion company after he spent six months in China fighting full-time.
In his early career, he had a record of 11-0 with all wins via KO/TKO. In December 2017, he signed a contract with the UFC and debuted against Rob Wilkinson at UFC 221.
Besides, he won the fight via TKO in the second round and earned the Performance of the Night bonus. On April 14, 2018, he won a battle against Marvin Vettori via split decision at UFC on Fox 29. His recent match was on April 13, 2019, against Gastelum.
On 7 March 2020, he next faced Yoel Romero in the UFC 248. He even won the fight via unanimous decision and defended the UFC middleweight championship successfully for the first time.
Personal Life
Israel Adesanya is currently focused on his blooming career. Furthermore, the details of his girlfriend, past love affairs, and relationships are yet unknown.
Adensayan costs a dashing look over his riches and with a masculine body structure, he is regarded as one of the hottest men in the business. Furthermore, he is currently living single and just focusing on his career.
Likewise, he regularly competed in dance competitions across New Zealand before taking up fighting. He highlighted his passion for dance in a choreographed walkout at UFC 243.
He is a fan of anime and even wanted to start an anime production company after separating from fighting. Similarly, his nickname “The Last Stylebender” is a reference to Avatar: The Last Airbender, an anime-influenced cartoon series.
Israel Adesanya – Body Structure
Israel Adesanya is proud of his Nigerian roots and has a tattoo of Africa on his body with Nigeria outlined. His height measures 6 feet 4 inches, and he weighs about 84kg.
Israel Adesanya – Social Media
Israel Adesanya is available on Instagram and Twitter. He has 3.7 million on his Instagram account and 177K followers on Twitter.