Israel Adesanya’s Midnight Encounter with a Chinese Triad

ByTimothy Wheaton Aug 9, 2024Aug 9, 2024

Israel Adesanya Next Fight

Former UFC champion Israel Adesanya had a run-in with some members of the Chinese Triad. This was years ago when the Nigerian-Kiwi fighter was kickboxing in China.

Israel Adesanya Fighting in China

In the early 2010s, ‘The Last Stylebender’ was a key kickboxer in the Chinese-based kickboxing organization Wu Lin Feng, and also fought in China’s Glory of Heroes and Kunlun. This is where his rivalry began with Alex Pereira, the two had two bouts against one another in Glory of Heroes.

The Chinese Triad is an organized crime syndicate. In an interview with Bloody Elbow, Israel Adesnaya recalls one night while competing in China:

“I have a lot of my wildest memories in China. I was fighting on a show with my teammate, Mike ‘Blood Diamond’ Mathetha, and then, in the middle of the night, the promoter came into our hotel room and took us to go hang out with this triad dude and his entourage. That was a good, wild experience.”

MMA and the UFC

Having lost in GLORY Kickboxing and to ‘Poatan’ Pereira, Adesanya changed his priorities to MMA. The Nigerian-Kiwi athlete was able to put together a perfect 20-0 record and pick up a UFC world title, before earning his first loss against light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz.

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In total, Israel Adesanya would defend his middleweight crown in five bouts before losing it to Pereira. Adesanya would later avenge that loss recapturing the throne, and then losing it to Sean Strickland. The US-born Strickland lost the title to Dricus du Plessis who Israel Adesanya will next face. He is looking to recapture his UFC middleweight title live from Australia at UFC 305 on August 18.

Dricus du Plessis claims Israel Adesanya should have retired last year I saw it in his eyes

On this UFC 305 match, he said:

“That’s really all I care about. Everything else is stupid. This is silly. The fight’s already sold but we have to go on this media sht. We have to do another press conference. I guess that’s to hype the fight up even more. Then the faceoff. Then the weigh-ins, then the faceoff. It’s like, it’s all fcking stupid to me. I want to go in there and beat this c*nt up. So that’s the exciting thing for me, and I’m going to do that. But again, it’s just patience.“

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Timothy Wheaton

Timothy Wheaton is a combat sports writer who covers MMA, Kickboxing, and Muay Thai. He has been an avid follower of these sports since 2005. Tim has even covered the UFC, GLORY Kickboxing, and Bellator in person at live events.

With Low Kick MMA, Tim has contributed interviews, articles, and podcasts.

Tim also works with a host of other media sites such as Calf Kick Sports, Sportskeeda MMA, MMA Sucka, Vecht Sport Info, Fighters First, and Beyond Kickboxing. Tim is is the authority on kickboxing and MMA journalist who has covered K-1, PRIDE FC, UFC, GLORY Kickboxing, Bellator, ONE Championship, and plenty more.