Do we like Israel Adesanya?
Our score: 6 out of 10. Real kindness and quick apologies sit next to a few ugly remarks and one dodgy joke he hasn't explained.
Adesanya was born in Lagos and became one of New Zealand's biggest sporting names, based in Auckland with his mum, a hospital nurse, back in Whanganui. He went on to win the UFC middleweight title twice. Nothing new on him lately, either: the last real news is a March 2026 loss.
That loss was to Joe Pyfer in Seattle, a second-round stoppage and his fourth in a row. Instead of bowing out, he said “I'm not f******* leaving” afterwards. Whether that's grit or stubbornness depends on who you ask, but it's very Izzy.
The mouth is where the trouble lives. In 2020 he joked that an opponent would “crumble like the Twin Towers” and apologised after criticism. In 2021 an expletive-laden video aimed at a rival included the word rape; he deleted it, said he had crossed the line, and New Zealand's then deputy prime minister said such comments shouldn't be made. Both times he apologised, and the second apology said he'd be more selective with words under pressure.
The harm check is where the asterisk sits. In August 2024 he publicly attacked Olympic boxer Imane Khelif, calling her a biological man, then apologised on New Zealand radio, saying there was misinformation and he would leave women's fights to women. In 2023 LowKick MMA reported he used a racial slur repeatedly in a tirade at Dricus du Plessis, drawing criticism. In October 2025 a clip showed him appearing to make a joke about Charlie Kirk with a remark about being black, which outlets called racially charged; the report found no statement from him explaining it.
On politics, he's hard to pin down. In March 2026 he told Complex he wouldn't even go and watch the planned UFC White House card, saying the world was different now. We found no campaigning from him against LGBTQ+ people, women or the planet, which keeps this to an asterisk rather than a fail. The record's thin on his deeper views, so that's a read of what's been reported, not a guess at his beliefs.
On the nice side, in 2020 he donated tens of thousands of dollars' worth of protective gear to hospitals in Whanganui, Auckland and Lagos, saying he couldn't help the whole world but could help places he knew. In 2023 he pleaded guilty to drink-driving in Auckland and got a discharge without conviction, with a $1,500 charity payment and a six-month driving ban. The judge credited him for never seeking name suppression, and he'd already said publicly that he was wrong.