Watch: Fan surprises Israel Adesanya and his team with souvenirs in Houston
![Israel Adesanya gets surprised by a fan [Photo via @stylebender on Instagram]](https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2022/02/52a3d-16443828038473-1920.jpg?w=500)
An Israel Adesanya superfan made the most out of his encounter with his favorite UFC fighter.
Adesanya recently arrived in Houston, Texas with UFC 271 just a few days away. In his YouTube vlog, the Kiwi fighter captured a genuine moment between himself and one of his Texas-based fans.
Towards the end of the video, Adesanya is seen taking pictures with a man who appears to be a massive supporter of 'The Last Stylebender.' The fan, who even brought his Adesanya action figure with him, got a photo and autograph with the UFC middleweight champ.
The aforementioned fan surprised Adesanya when he pulled out a present and handed it to the champ. Adesanya seemed very grateful and gave his admirer one final handshake before they parted ways.
Check out Israel Adesanya's wholesome interaction with a fan:
Eugene Bareman doesn't want Israel Adesanya to KO Robert Whittaker
Israel Adesanya knocked out Robert Whittaker the first time they crossed paths in the octagon at UFC 243 in 2019. This time around, however, Adesanya's coach Eugene Bareman said he's rooting for a different outcome.
According to the City Kickboxing head coach, he'd rather see his star pupil outclass Whittaker. During an interview with Submission Radio, Bareman said:
"People aren’t going to agree with me, but the ultimate thing you can do in fight sports, I think, is not a knockout. It’s a whitewash. And so what I would like to happen is just a five-round whitewash where there is no stoppage this time. But like, every round, there’s just accumulative, accumulative, accumulative damage and it just leaves no doubt. It just leaves no doubt. There’s 25 minutes of mastery."
Bareman was also asked if he thought Whittaker would copy Jan Blachowicz's game plan to try to beat Adesanya. Blachowicz, of course, was the first fighter to beat the middleweight champ in professional MMA. According to Bareman:
"There’s little things you could take, but at the end of the day you’ve got to work with the athlete that you’ve got in front of you, and they understand that they don’t have Jan in front of them, so they’re too smart to do that. But I expect a little bit less panic and a little bit more respect from Rob. I expect him to not be so aggressive this time. That’s the only thing I can take a good calculated guess at."
Watch Eugene Bareman's full interview with Submission Radio below: