Latest news with #Adesanya
NZ Herald
20-05-2025
- Sport
- NZ Herald
Dan Hooker-backed fight event criticised by boxing coach over safety concerns
The tournament appears to be connected to a social media influencer and has links to an online gambling site. On May 14, Hooker posted a video to social media with MMA fighter and former UFC middleweight champion Adesanya endorsing the event and encouraging people to bring the whānau. 'Bring the family, bring the whānau, bring everyone, come watch, you'll get knocked out or knock someone the f*** out,' Adesanya said. In another video posted on May 17, Hooker said too many fighters had registered, 'so if everyone wants to drop their nuts that would be f***ing great, hit me up'. Meehan told Checkpoint the event is a street scrap and should not be classified as boxing. 'The rules are a lot different. For starters, we don't do one-minute rounds. You're saying to the guy in the corner get out and start smashing the other guy as best you can. Boxing is an art form; it's a sport and this is straight-out thuggery.' In professional Olympic-style boxing, athletes use 10oz or 12oz gloves, 'nobody wears 4oz MMA gloves', he said. 'What you've got there is just thugs getting in there and going out and they're just like absolutely smashing each other and we're going to see somebody get seriously hurt, if not killed.' To promote a boxing tournament, organisers must have a police permit, he said. 'It's got to be sanctioned by a sanctioning body. They're not even advertising where they're holding this so the police obviously don't even know.' He said there is a list of regulations on the Boxing and Wrestling Act. 'Other rules and regulations [are] around weights, weigh-ins, full medicals, blood tests and it just goes on and on. 'People who can hold boxing tournaments are actually listed on the Wrestling and Boxing Act. Dan Hooker's not on the Wrestling and Boxing Act.' The implications of the fight having no weight restrictions are that someone could be seriously hurt, Meehan said. '[If] you've got a 70kg boxer or fighter getting in and fighting a 120kg fighter, you've got a little bit of difference here. Somebody's going to get hurt. 'They're actually saying to both sides to go just go out there and smash.' In a sanctioned, Olympic-style boxing tournament, every fighter must have a full medical check beforehand and there are doctors on site, he said. 'We have a registration book; everything is recorded in there. Your weight, your record, your experience, so when you're matching, you're matching against similar experience, we have weight divisions.' He said he has been seeing similar fights pop up around New Zealand. 'There's a lot of it starting to happen. Other ones that I know are involved, it's a quick buck for them. We've got one setting up at the moment, it's called Semi-pro. There's no such thing. 'It's just barbaric, the biggest issue is the people getting in the ring half the time aren't conditioned enough to be there, they aren't matched correctly.'
Time of India
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
David Goggins explains what sets apart Israel Adesanya in the UFC
Photo byIsrael Adesanya isn't quite sitting at the top of the UFC middleweight division anymore, but what he's done in the sport still echoes loudly—and for someone like David Goggins , it's not just the wins that matter. It's how he got them. After Adesanya's huge comeback win over Alex Pereira at UFC 287 , Goggins, a man who's built his life around toughness and mental grit, explained what he sees in Adesanya that separates him from every other fighter in the game. And it's not just about the knockout . David Goggins reveals why Israel Adesanya has the strongest mindset in the UFC Israel Adesanya's rivalry with Alex Pereira is the kind of story you almost can't script. Three losses—two in kickboxing, one in the UFC—and then, out of nowhere, a thunderous knockout that turned the tide. It was more than just a win; it was Adesanya reclaiming his narrative. And David Goggins noticed something not everyone did. 'No one, no one that I've ever seen—the way you celebrate, you celebrate in that moment,' Goggins told Adesanya during a conversation on the FREESTYLEBENDER YouTube channel. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 2025 Top Trending local enterprise accounting software [Click Here] Esseps Learn More Undo 'You're not like, 'Oh, I won,' and then you come back and do it. [No], you already visualized what the f*** you were gonna do because when you beat him, it happened so fast with you pulling for those arrows… That s*** was sick.' Israel Adesanya and David Goggins Chat Before Their BRUTAL Training Session Turns out, Adesanya did visualize it—down to the bow-and-arrow celebration he pulled off in the Octagon. He'd rehearsed it in the shower, knowing exactly how he wanted that moment to go down. But what really impressed Goggins wasn't the celebration—it was the road Adesanya had to walk just to get there. He'd torn his MCL just weeks before the fight. He could've pulled out. He didn't. 'You kept coming after the demon,' Goggins said. 'How fast you came back after you lost, that was purposeful.' And the fight itself wasn't easy. Pereira was battering Adesanya's legs again—just like he did the first time. 'After the second [leg kick], I was like 'f***, again?'' Adesanya admitted. But he stuck through it, bounced off the cage, and cracked Pereira with a right hand that dropped him like a stone. Also Read: Dustin Poirier plans Lil Wayne walkout for UFC 318 retirement fight against Max Holloway This is what Goggins is talking about. The knockouts, the belts, the highlights—they're great. But it's the mindset, the visualization , the refusal to quit when every reason to do so is staring you in the face—that's the real win. As Goggins said, 'That mindset? That's the separator.' And for Adesanya, it might be what keeps him in the conversation of all-time greats, even when he's not holding the belt.
USA Today
25-04-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Kamaru Usman jokes 'it's not fair' if Israel Adesanya doesn't fight Alex Pereira again
Kamaru Usman jokes 'it's not fair' if Israel Adesanya doesn't fight Alex Pereira again Kamaru Usman tells Israel Adesanya he can't close his chapter with Alex Pereira now. After losing to Pereira twice in kickboxing and once in the UFC for the middleweight title, Adesanya (24-5 MMA, 13-5 UFC) was able to finally get one back on "Poatan" by reclaiming his belt with a knockout of his own at UFC 287. Despite being down in their rivalry, Adesanya was content to move on. Former UFC welterweight champion Usman thinks Adesanya should entertain the idea of facing Pereira (12-3 MMA, 9-2 UFC) again after people had repeatedly expressed interest in a trilogy bout in MMA. "That's not fair, it's not fair," Usman said on the "Pound 4 Pound" podcast with Henry Cejudo. "You can't make me play this game four or five times and then when you finally beat me, you're like, 'I'm done. I'm done.' That's why (fans) would be like that." Adesanya, who's currently on a three-fight losing skid, explains why he's at peace with his rivalry against now light heavyweight Pereira. The pair were recently seen seated next to each other at UFC 312, and appear to have buried the hatchet. "He's a hard fight, he knows I'm a hard fight," Adesanya said of Pereira. "I'm not scared to fight the guy, it's just it's a hard fight and whenever I fight him, I know that I'm in for it and he knows the same thing. So I finally got what I needed to get from that saga, and if I beat him now, what are they going to say? 'Actually, it's 3-2' or whatever. They'll make up some new sh*t."
USA Today
25-04-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Paul Felder: David Goggins can help Israel Adesanya find next level of commitment and grit
Paul Felder: David Goggins can help Israel Adesanya find next level of commitment and grit Paul Felder sees David Goggins having a positive impact on Israel Adesanya. Adesanya (24-5 MMA, 13-5 UFC) has recently spent time training with former Navy SEAL Goggins, who put him through the trenches in a workout that resulted in the former UFC middleweight champion throwing up. With Adesanya currently on a three-fight losing skid, Felder thinks Goggins can reignite the fire in "The Stylebender." "Depending on what you're using it for, this could be a great thing for him," Felder said on the "Believe You Me" podcast. "Because if it's just to get your ass back in gear, get you motivated, and maybe push yourself to another level that you're not quite getting just doing your basic, everyday gym training, and you want to just kind of find out who you are, Goggins is the guy to pull that out of you. 'He's just going to torture you. He's going to make you find another level down there. And with somebody like Izzy, who's shown that he's still got the skills, whereas Tony (Ferguson), I see why that might have been something they were trying to pair up with each other to try to dig him out of the trenches, but I think he's just too far gone physically and in so many other ways, where (Goggins) wasn't able to really make him successful." Goggins' work with Tony Ferguson may have not yielded results, but his work with UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones prior to his fight against Ciryl Gane at UFC 285 certainly did. "Jones, I could see why Jon would want a guy like that around, a guy who maybe slips off and loses discipline," Felder said. "And Izzy maybe is having the same issues where he just needs to find that next level of commitment and grit more importantly." Adesanya is coming off a TKO loss to Nassourdine Imavov at UFC Fight Night 250 in February. He recently caught the itch to compete again, and wants to avenge his loss to Sean Strickland, who dethroned him to become middleweight champion at UFC 293.
USA Today
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Israel Adesanya reveals surprising details about UFC debut salary
Israel Adesanya reveals surprising details about UFC debut salary Israel Adesanya didn't earn the average salary for his UFC debut. He made well north of it. Adesanya (24-5 MMA, 13-5 UFC) entered the UFC with some buzz from his decorated kickboxing career and drew Rob Wilkinson in his promotional debut at UFC 221 in February 2021. He won by second-round TKO and was one of two Performance of the Night winners in Perth, Australia. "My UFC debut, I didn't make the 10 and 10 (thousand) like everyone else," Adesanya said on the "Pound 4 Pound" podcast. "I made six figures and then I made a 50K bonus on top of that. Stole the show from – who was the main event? (Luke) Rockhold vs. Yoel (Romero), I believe. I felt like I stole the show, people were talking about me, and I was f*cking on top of the world." Despite the standout performance, Adesanya didn't feel the high he expected. "I'd go home, and I'd just f*cking crash," Adesanya said. "I didn't understand. For me, that's when I started going to therapy because I realized like OK, this is – I don't want to say this is bad, but it was bad. I was like, 'Damn, I shouldn't be sad.' And then you feel guilty for feeling sad. You're like, 'Why am I depressed?' "I figured it out. It's the stimulus. You're the man, this, that, cameras, lights, action. Then I go home, and I'm in my dark room, and I just chill, and there's no stimulus. It's like coffee. The coffee high, and then when the coffee stimulus wears off, you have the crash. It's like that but for your spirit." Adesanya said it took until his fourth UFC fight against Derek Brunson to figure out how to regulate his emotions. "The Last Stylebender" went on to have a Hall of Fame worthy career by capturing the UFC middleweight title twice, with five title defenses in his first reign. Adesanya, 35, is currently on a three-fight losing streak after suffering a second-round TKO loss to Nassourdine Imavov on Feb. 1.
