When did Israel Adesanya start training in martial arts?

Israel Adesanya started his journey in combat sports fairly late compared to the other fighters, who typically begin training as children. He started training kickboxing when he was 18 years old.

Adesanya's inspiration for taking up martial arts came after he saw a Thai movie named Ong-Bak, which is based on the sport of Muay Thai. He recalled his beginnings in the combat sports world in a self-written blog on Athletes Voice.

He wrote:

"I remember as a kid seeing the movie ‘Ong-Bak’, starring Tony Jaa. He was doing all this crazy shit and I’m just like, ‘F**k – that’s cool. I want to be a fighter’. I started training in Muay Thai and six weeks later, I had my first fight. Crazy. That was 2008 and I was still a teenager. It didn’t take me long to know that I was different to other fighters. Fight No.4: that was the moment I knew. I accepted that about myself: ‘You’re not like everyone else. You could be the greatest at this'. Nothing has changed, now that I’m in the UFC. I can be the best of all time."

After going unbeaten in 32 kickboxing bouts, Adesanya started training under Eugene Bareman at City Kickboxing, where he still trains to this day. 'The Last Stylebender' trains alongside fellow UFC stars Kai Kara-France, Dan Hooker and Alexander Volkanovski at the New Zealand-based gym.

Israel Adesanya is the current UFC middleweight champion with an overall MMA record of 21 wins and one loss. His kickboxing record comprises 75 wins and 5 losses.

---

Israel Adesanya confident of finishing Robert Whittaker in the rematch; says "it'll be worse than the first time"

The rematch between Israel Adesanya and former middleweight champ Robert Whittaker is finally official for UFC 271 on February 13, 2022.

Whittaker, who has looked sharper than ever in his last three fights, will undoubtedly look to avenge his loss from the first fight against Adesanya.

However, 'The Last Stylebender' is more confident than ever of finishing 'The Reaper' again. The Kiwi claims that this time, the outcome will be 'worse' for the Australian than it was the first time around.

Adesanya recently tweeted a cryptic message in which he said:

"Look in my eyes. Eat, sleep, train, repeat... It's a plan that can't be beat!! This will be worse than the first time "

Adesanya and Whittaker first met at UFC 243 in 2019. In their first encounter, Adesanya, who was the interim champion at the time, knocked out Whittaker in the second round to successfully unify the UFC middleweight championship.