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Five years ago on November 24, 2017, Israel Adesanya fought in his last fight outside of the UFC before taking it by storm and becoming one of the most recognizable names in the sport.
Before losing his title, 'The Last Stylebender' was considered one of the greatest pound-for-pound fighters in the world. He backed that up each time he stepped into the cage. The kickboxer was so dominant in his weight class that he began lapping the division, fighting and beating some top contenders on two occasions.
MMA History Today showcased Israel Adesanya's final display before signing with the UFC, which featured a phenomenal question mark kick knockout:
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"November 24, 2017. 5 years ago today, Israel Adesanya competed in his final fight before entering the UFC. He finished Stuart Dare with a question mark kick. Israel became the UFC champion less than 2 years later."
At the time, Adesanya was an undefeated prospect with a 10-0 record, while his opponent was a seven-year veteran with a less-than-impressive record of 7 wins and 5 losses.
The Nigerian-New Zealander won ten straight matchups before making the jump over to the UFC, finishing each of them in the first or second round by way of knockout.
During his run outside of the octagon, 'Izzy' beat an MMA veteran with 40 wins, a promising Asian heavyweight currently on a six-fight win streak, and one former and one current UFC athlete in Melvin Guillard and Kenan Song.
Israel Adesanya's electric start to life in the UFC
Although he is now one of the most polarizing figures in the sport, Israel Adesanya wasn't always the biggest name on his fight cards. He had to fight his way through the rankings to earn that.
The global superstar entered the UFC as an unbeaten prodigy and quickly made the octagon his own with a second-round TKO of Rob Wilkinson. The 33-year-old then went on to earn decision victories over Brad Tavares and former title challenger Marvin Vettori.
Having spent just one year with the promotion, the middleweight got his hands raised in a matchup against his idol Anderson Silva and then put on a fight-of-the-year candidate display against Kelvin Gastelum. Less than two years into his career with the UFC, the fan-favorite claimed middleweight gold.
