Israel Adesanya spills why he stopped giving interviews to "ancient and puritan" local media

UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya has never been a man to shy away from the spotlight. Since arriving in the octagon in 2018, ‘The Last Stylebender’ has craved the attention of the fans and has become one of the more outspoken fighters on the roster.

However, it’s worth noting that despite being one of the UFC’s biggest and most recognizable stars right now, Adesanya isn’t all that friendly towards the media in his native New Zealand.

Back in 2021, for instance, he blasted his home country’s treatment of his training partner Dan Hooker, and essentially claimed that the reason for this was a lack of respect in New Zealand for MMA in general.

2022, meanwhile, saw him take a swipe at New Zealand’s authorities and the media for their lack of attention on him, showing that he had more Instagram followers than five of the world’s top rugby teams, combined.

It’s well-known, of course, that rugby is widely seen as New Zealand’s national sport.

Israel Adesanya hits out [Image Credit: Sportskeeda]

Later that year, Israel Adesanya also dared New Zealand’s media to “cancel” him after he posted an odd video on Twitter, labeling their news sites “a hub of sh*t.”

Bout to fly back, 3 hours in the sky, no WiFi! Y’all better cancel me by the time I touch land, especially you sorry excuses for new sites in NZ, lol a hub of shit!! 😃 https://t.co/Kbjewqs933

Now, though, it seems that ‘The Last Stylebender’ has some support when it comes to his treatment from the New Zealand media.

Social media star Sesh had the following to say on Instagram on the subject of the middleweight kingpin:

“This guy just like, conquered his demons on the biggest stage, reclaimed his belt...and then you guys f*cking sh*t on him. And you guys wonder why he doesn’t wear a f*cking New Zealand flag when he walks out any more, bro? This guy is the biggest person in New Zealand...and the respect he’s given when he comes back here by our media is just sh*t, bro, it’s f*cking bullsh*t.”

In response, Adesanya quickly tweeted:

“'I’m not local, I’m global.' - Me... I used to do local media, but the people that own it are ancient puritans (when they in public) so they despise a durty guy like me. The feeling is mutual, but also we live in 2023 earth and we have the internet. So shoutout to you guys!”

“I’m not local, I’m global 🌍” - Me
I used to do local media, but the people that own it are ancient and puritans (when they in public) so they despise a durty guy like me. The feeling is mutual 😅, but also we live in 2023 earth and we have the internet. So shoutout to you guys! https://t.co/Bky1KGHAWw

Based on this, it’s safe to believe that Israel Adesanya is not going to settle his feud with New Zealand’s media any time soon. It may also go some way to explaining why he prefers to represent his country of birth, Nigeria, in the octagon.

Why did Israel Adesanya suggest New Zealand’s media and authorities were racist?

In early 2022, Israel Adesanya outright stated that he’d never fight in New Zealand again, with the main reason seemingly being the country’s strict COVID-19 lockdown procedures.

However, in a 2021 YouTube rant, he also claimed that the country’s “bureaucrats” didn’t like him, and essentially claimed that they didn’t want a black fighter like him representing their country:

“The constant effort to stifle, to break up, to disrupt our team, City Kickboxing, from helping team captain Dan ‘Hangman’ [Hooker] get ready for his fight, that p*ssed me off the most. If it was me, I already know, they don’t like me, the bureaucrats of this f*cking country... also, they are racists, some of them are f*cking racists, of course, they don’t want a black boy representing New Zealand...”

Catch Adesanya's comments in the video below: