UFC champion Israel Adesanya opens up on if he'll pay for verified status on Twitter

Israel Adesanya, heralded among the most popular athletes in combat sports, has opened up on if he'll pay for verified status on Twitter.

The reigning UFC middleweight champion boasts an incredible fan following across a myriad of social media platforms. That includes a huge fan base on the prominent US-based social media platform Twitter.

Twitter, which was founded in 2006, gradually solidified itself as one of the most widely utilized social media platforms in the world. The company was purchased by South African-born American businessman Elon Musk in 2022.

The billionaire entrepreneur notably promised to bring about several changes to Twitter, including changes to the legacy blue verification checkmarks/ticks used to mark verified Twitter accounts. One of the biggest changes included making users pay a fee for the previously free blue verification mark.

The blue verification mark had long been used as a symbol attached to a public personality's Twitter account to prevent the spread of misinformation. Colloquially referred to as the Twitter blue tick, it helped Twitter users distinguish between public personalities' genuine Twitter accounts and impostor accounts masquerading as public personalities.

On Thursday, April 20, 2023, Elon Musk-led Twitter brought about a major change regarding the blue mark rule. Many public personalities, who previously had the blue mark next to their Twitter handles, had their respective marks taken away.

On that note, MMA icon and UFC megastar Israel Adesanya took to his Twitter account on Mondat and tweeted that he hadn't paid for the Twitter blue checkmark/tick.

Despite not paying for it, Israel Adesanya's Twitter handle still has the blue mark next to it. Suggesting that he's unlikely to pay for the blue mark, 'The Last Stylebender' tweeted:

"I did not buy a Twitter blue tick."

Intriguingly, a well-known MMA fan who goes by the Twitter handle "@Boogerbeard1," replied to Israel Adesanya's aforementioned tweet. As seen in the tweet below, the fan indicated that they bought the blue mark for Adesanya. The fan tweeted:

"I picked it up for ya champ"

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Is the Twitter blue check proof that Israel Adesanya's Twitter account is verified?

According to a report by Indian-based mainstream news outlet The Indian Express, the Twitter blue checkmark no longer means that the Twitter account is verified. The report said that the blue mark only implies that the given Twitter user has a subscription to the Twitter Blue service and has provided their phone number to Twitter.

As confirmed by Elon Musk, Twitter users who wish to have the blue mark next to their Twitter handle are required to pay $8 per month. Users who don't pay the fee will have the blue mark taken away from them.

Moreover, certain government Twitter handles have been given a grey checkmark/tick. Meanwhile, a select few leading news outlets have been given a gold checkmark/tick. Nevertheless, some government and media outlets still have the blue mark on their Twitter handles, while some have no mark next to theirs.

Screenshot of Israel Adesanya's official Twitter profile with the blue checkmark [*Image courtesy: @stylebender Twitter account]

Additionally, as reported by The New York Times, Twitter planned to charge companies $1,000 per month for the gold checkmark/tick. However, there are several exceptions, including Twitter’s top 500 advertisers and the 10,000 most-followed previously verified organizations.

Israel Adesanya's Twitter handle, which has around 1.6 million followers, is indeed his genuine Twitter account. However, an impostor could likely create an account impersonating 'Izzy' and pay the $8 Twitter Blue fee to get the blue checkmark next to their handle.

Considering the aforementioned variables at play, many in the pop culture realm have opined that Twitter's new rules regarding its checkmarks could cause confusion. Nevertheless, Twitter users can expect further clarity regarding the checkmark rules in the days to come.