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UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya suffered serious injuries from a street attack back in 2012. According to a report from NZ Herald, The Last Stylebender was hit from behind in the streets by an attacker who broke his jaw. Adesanya had not spoken about the incident until his teammate, the 25-year-old Fau Vake, was seriously injured in a similar attack recently.
Fau Vake is fighting for his life after being attacked from behind in Auckland's CBD. The incident has garnered widespread attention in the media. Adesanya, who is a victim of a similar attack himself, knows the perils associated with such an attack.
The 31-year-old fighter is now trying to draw attention to the lack of a legal framework to punish those involved in cowardly acts of crime. Israel Adesanya aired his thoughts on the matter in a statement and suggested that attacking an unaware person from behind should be considered a murder or an attempted murder:
“I am distraught. My gym brother may die because of the gutless actions of these men. In the past decade, there have been numerous deaths from punches thrown when people are not looking. Given the massive publicity these crimes have received, no one is dumb enough to think there is not a serious risk of death. There is no excuse, it should be considered attempted murder or murder,” Israel Adesanya said in a statement.
Israel Adesanya and teammates at City Kickboxing lent their support to Fau Vake
Fau Vake is in critical condition after the cowardly attack and is being treated at Auckland City Hospital. Adesanya and UFC flyweight Kai Kara France posted a video of the 25-year-old on their social media accounts and appealed to fans to pray for his speedy recovery. Israel Adesanya slammed Stuff. co.NZ in a tweet for the false report of Fau Vake's death.
City Kickboxing head coach Eugene Bareman also shared his thoughts on the incident. Bareman expressed his disappointment at inadequate penalties for cowardly punching in New Zealand's court of law. He stated that the country should be trying to bring stringent laws against cowardly attacks and allow for more serious penalties:
“The Australian states of New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria all introduced coward punch laws in 2014... It’s sad to see Australia so far ahead of us in dealing with these evil acts. If New Zealand law doesn’t allow for a more serious penalty, we should all be pushing for it,” Eugene Bareman said.
