Teammate Dan Hooker makes eye-opening revelation about how Israel Adesanya really is behind the camera: "He's got no malicious intent"
Dan Hooker recently opened up about his relationship with Israel Adesanya. Hooker went on to say that he and Adesanya are close friends and that the former middleweight champion is a nice person, contrary to what many believe.
Hooker and Adesanya hail from New Zealand and train together at City Kickboxing in Auckland, New Zealand. Both have supported each other on numerous occasions which proves how close they are.
In a recent interview with Dom Harvey, Hooker discussed how 'The Last Stylebender' is behind the cameras, and noted that people frequently get the wrong idea about him, saying:
''Without a shadow of a doubt like goes back to the day we die. It's not one of those friendships where you have to message each other every day...we go through like a lot of the the similar things obviously, I don't tell the levels that he's at like the levels of fame that he's at is absolutely wild and we are very different people.''
Hooker continued:
''The funny part about it is people think he's the bad one and I'm the nice one and I'm just like thinking, 'what the heck?'. Israel's like one of the nicest people I've ever met in my life. He is actually like a really nice heartfelt dude and I'm just not...Israel Like there's no malice in it, it's a competitive sport and he's got no malicious intent like when he fights.''
Check out Dan Hooker's comments below (1:14:38):
As for the MMA scene, Adesanya failed to reclaim the middleweight title after suffering a fourth-round submission defeat against Dricus du Plessis at UFC 305 last year. Notably, du Plessis became the first fighter to submit Adesanya.
The 35-year-old will return to the octagon at UFC Saudi Arabia on Feb. 1 in a middleweight bout against Nassourdine Imavov.
Meanwhile, Hooker will take on Justin Gaethje in the co-main event of UFC 313 on March 8.
Israel Adesanya predicts the Dricus du Plessis vs. Sean Strickland clash at UFC 312
Dricus du Plessis will return to face Sean Strickland in a rematch at UFC 312 on Feb. 9. In their first fight, du Plessis captured the middleweight title from Strickland via split decision, which many found controversial.
Ahead of the Nassourdine Imavov matchup at UFC Saudi Arabia, former champion Israel Adesanya spoke to MMA Junkie and backed du Plessis to win, saying:
''I say Dricus wins that one if it's close, maybe. Or maybe it's more decisive this time. It's going to be a hard fight for both men, but I think I would give the edge to Dricus in this fight."
Check out Israel Adesanya's comments below (7:32):