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Israel Adesanya , Biography
Israel Adesanya (aka The Last Stylebender) is a Nigerian undefeated UFC fighter.
He was born in Lagos, Nigeria to a well-off family.
His mother was a nurse and his father was an entrepreneur.
At the age of 11, his family moved to New Zealand in hopes that Israel could receive an education that would be accepted in common western culture(“Israel Adesanya” 2019).
Israel’s time in New Zealand was both a blessing and a curse.
While in New Zealand, Israel often felt like an outsider as a black Nigerian in a mostly white New Zealand school (Harris 2018).
This situation inspired the tattoo on his chest which reads “BROKEN NATIVE” as he felt like he was removed from his native land when he moved to New Zealand.
Date of Birth
22 July 1989
Age
31
Education
He holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Design at the Universal College of Learning in Whanganui.
Career
The blessing of New Zealand is that it has a deep history of martial arts which helped foster Adesanya’s love for the discipline.
When he was young, Israel was participating in taekwondo. However, after coming home and kicking everything in his house, as well as breaking his arm trying to do a backflip off the living room couch, his mom removed him from the sport(Mahjouri 2019).
At age 18, Israel took up kickboxing and quickly became a phenom. He has an impressive kickboxing record of 75-5-1 and won New Zealand’s national kickboxing tournament, King in the Ring, 3 times, which is the most in the tournament’s history.
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Before beginning his mixed martial arts career, Israel also had a brief boxing career, ending with a record of 5-1.
Had Israel not chosen MMA, he claims he would have been one of the best boxers in history.
Currently, Adesanya is the undefeated UFC middleweight champion with a record of 18-0 and he is quickly becoming an MMA global superstar.
