Why did Israel Adesanya represent China in his kickboxing days? Unearthing the origin of Sean Strickland's ongoing joke

Fans have been slightly confused about Israel Adesanya's nationality as his upcoming opponent Sean Strickland continues to label him Chinese. While Strickland initially took the first dig during an appearance on Joe Rogan's podcast earlier this year, a subsequent video of Adesanya holding the Chinese flag went viral.

'The Last Stylebender' also admitted to having embraced the Chinese culture in another video. While Israel Adesanya was born in Nigeria and currently resides in New Zealand, a large chunk of his decorated kickboxing career was spent competing in Chinese local circuits where he was known as 'The Black Dragon'.

The UFC middleweight champ has often credited his days spent in China for shaping him to be the fighter he is today. Adesanya said:

"It took me a while to adapt, you know. But I settled in and I won the fans over. They took me to heart you know and they started to call me the Black Dragon and I started winning. I just kept getting in there, bam, week after week, month after month. You learn how to fight, how to get hit, how to be disappointed and how to bounce back.” h/t South China Morning Post

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Israel Adesanya explains starring in Chinese commercials

Sean Strickland has been incessant with his 'Chinese' digs at Israel Adesanya leading up to their UFC 293 title fight in Sydney next weekend. Labeling 'The Last Stylebender' a 'Chinese s**t', Strickland most recently vowed to bring the UFC middleweight title back to America.

Israel Adesanya seemingly isn't bothered about it for the most part, even joking about knocking out Strickland in the name of China. However, when the video of him donning the Five-Star Red Flag initially emerged, Adesanya did provide a clarification. While he did not address the exact video, even though he played it, Adesanya explained that he used to stare in Chinese ads as a side hustle. 'The Last Stylebender' said:

“I grabbed a random baby. and when they came off the hook, I grabbed it off from the dad. so I’m like the thing goes, My Family in China blah blah blah.. it looks like I’m like part of this Chinese man, and I’m grabbing the baby...I feel like it’s just kind of funny, I see some of it not too much of it but some of it, and I’m like.. ahh that’s right. but aye man, I made money.”

Catch Adesanya's comments below: