"Honored to be part of this trio" - Israel Adesanya celebrates the rise of African-born champions in the UFC
![Israel Adesanya with Francis Ngannou (Left) and Kamaru Usman (Right) [Image credit: @stylebender via Instagram]](https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2021/06/7ced6-16239165034542-800.jpg?w=500)
It is an honor for UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya to stand with Kamaru Usman and Francis Ngannou as the three African-born current champions in the UFC.
Three big names - Francis Ngannou of Cameroon, Kamaru Usman and Israel Adesanya of Nigeria - have spearheaded the meteoric rise of fighters with African roots in the UFC that the MMA world has witnessed in recent years.
The three are proud titleholders in their respective weight classes.
Following his third successful middleweight title defense at UFC 263 against Marvin Vettori, Israel Adesanya has taken to social media to once again celebrate the rise of African-born champions to the top of the UFC and of the sport.
'The Last Stylebender' mentioned some statistics in his post that make their respective and collective accomplishments even more special. Israel Adesanya pointed out that there are over 600 active fighters in the UFC at present, out of which less than 30 are African-born, and yet three of them are champions.
"An era in the history of sports that will never be forgotten. I am honored to be part of this trio in mixed martial arts. There are 600+ active UFC fighters. Less than 30 of us are Africans. Yet 3 of us are Champions. More than AMAZING!! The new #blackmurderersrow," Israel Adesanya wrote.
Francis Ngannou and Kamaru Usman posted similar congratulatory messages on social media following Israel Adesanya's dominating win over 'The Italian Dream.'
It is beautiful to see how the three of them have been celebrating a heritage that they share and supporting one another relentlessly.
Israel Adesanya, Kamaru Usman, and Francis Ngannou supporting each other in their quest of greatness
Kamaru Usman became the first African-born, Nigerian UFC champion when he took Tyron Woodley's welterweight belt at UFC 235. He was also at Francis Ngannou's corner when 'The Predator' beat Stipe Miocic at UFC 260 to become the first African-born heavyweight champion in the promotion's history.
Israel Adesanya watched the fight at home with friends and family, later posting a reaction video to Francis Ngannou's historic second-round knockout of Stipe Miocic.
"3 Kings taking gold back to the land, Africa. This is history!! The stories this can inspire!! I’m inspired. Our stories will be told by us," Israel Adesanya captioned the post.
In a BT Sport interview ahead of challenging Jan Blachowicz for the light heavyweight title, Israel Adesanya worded what it meant for him to see the growth of African mixed martial artists in the UFC.
"Honestly, I like the look of that... They've taken a lot of gold from Africa, so it's time to take some gold back to Africa. We've been doing that, so adding two new collections to our gold would be very nice and then stand united and shine and inspire our people," Israel Adesanya said.
Had he successfully gone through Jan Blachowicz at UFC 259, a history-making four titles would have been held by African-born fighters.
Also read: 5 African fighters who have the potential to become UFC champions
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