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Israel Adesanya holds a professional MMA record of 20-1. He entered the UFC with a 9-0 record and was undefeated until his last outing against Jan Blachowicz at UFC 259. In his bid to claim the light heavyweight belt and attain champ-champ status, 'The Last Stylebender' suffered the first loss of his pro-MMA career.
Israel Adesanya's current UFC record is 9-1.
He is the reigning UFC middleweight champion and is undefeated in that weight class. While Adesanya has fought in bigger weight classes during his kickboxing days, he has only once made the jump in MMA against Jan Blachowicz at UFC 259.
The move was a bold one for Adesanya, even though he was considered a heavy favorite going into the fight. The Polish light heavyweight champion not only dominated Adesanya on the ground but out-struck the middleweight champion, who is known for his striking prowess.
Israel Adesanya's UFC journey
Nigerian-born Kiwi Israel Adesanya, aka 'The Last Stylebender', has a storied combat sports career. His City Kickboxing coach Eugene Bareman recently stated that Adesanya is quite possibly the most experienced athlete on the UFC roster. He may not be wrong.
Israel Adesanya holds a boxing record of 5-1, a kickboxing record of 75-5, and an MMA record of 20-1. Effectively, he has had 107 fights with 100 wins. Amidst it all, Adesanya has only suffered one knockout loss. The statistics are unreal.
On his UFC debut, Adesanya faced Rob Wilkinson at UFC 221 and won via TKO. You can see how much the journey meant to him by his reaction backstage:
Adesanya then faced Marvin Vettori and won via split decision. This was the first fight of his MMA career to go to a judges' decision. Adesanya will face Vettori in a rematch at UFC 263, this time with the middleweight title on the line. This will be Adesanya's third title defense.
Israel Adesanya won the interim UFC middleweight championship in a barnburner against Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 236. Eugene Bareman stated that this was the toughest fight of Adesanya's career. 'The Last Stylebender' then faced undisputed champion Robert Whittaker at UFC 243 and outclassed him to unify the belts.
Since then, Adesanya has defended his belt against Yoel Romero and Paulo Costa. The win against Costa at UFC 253 was Adesanya's 100th professional win in combat sports.
