Who are the 5 men who have defeated Israel Adesanya across MMA and kickboxing?
The current UFC middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya, is considered one of the best fighters in the organization. However, the 32-year-old's combat sports career hasn't been flawless. The Nigerian-born New Zealander has tasted defeat in both MMA and kickboxing.
Adesanya lost to Jan Blachowicz in 2021 when trying to move up in weight and challenge for the light heavyweight championship in the UFC. 'The Last Stylebender' lost via unanimous decision after five rounds of fighting.
Before entering MMA, Adesanya had an impressive kickboxing career and remained unbeaten in his early bouts. In February 2014, all that changed. Simon Marcus became the first fighter to beat him in a kickboxing contest.
The decision loss seemingly affected a young Adesanya, as he went on to lose his next kickboxing bout just two months later. 'The Last Stylebender' once again lost via decision, this time to Filip Verlinden at Glory 15: Istanbul.
After these defeats, the 32-year-old competed in a mixture of MMA, boxing and kickboxing bouts. He lost a boxing match to Daniel Ammann in November 2014 via decision. However, Adesanya remained unbeaten in kickboxing until 2016.
After going on a solid run of form, Israel Adesanya eventually crossed paths with Alex Pereira for the first time in his career. Both fighters now compete in the UFC middleweight division and it's widely known that Pereira is 2-0 against the UFC champion.
However, in between these two defeats, 'The Last Stylebender' also lost via decision to Jason Wilnis. The bout took place at Glory 37: Los Angeles in 2017. It was the penultimate bout of Israel Adesanya's kickboxing career before he switched to full-time MMA.
Did Israel Adesanya have an amateur MMA career?
Israel Adesanya competed as an amateur under MMA rules in 2009 against Neroni Savaiinaea. The bout took place at Industry of Combat New Zealand and didn't go well for Adesanya. 'The Last Stylebender' lost his only amateur fight.
However, at the time, the Nigerian-born fighter was seemingly more focused on his kickboxing career and debuted as a professional kickboxer in 2011.
Watch the bout below:
Despite winning the bout, Savaiinaea seemingly never competed in MMA again and it's unknown what happened to the fighter. This rare defeat for Adesanya is relatively unspoken about, which makes sense given the low-profile nature of the bout.
Adesanya didn't let this defeat hold him back and the 32-year-old is now the undisputed UFC middleweight champion.