UFC champion Israel Adesanya reacts to teammate Fau Vake's death

UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya paid tribute to his late City Kickboxing teammate Fau Vake.

Reacting to the news of his teammate's tragic death, Adesanya took to Instagram to share an excerpt of his conversation with Vake from earlier this year.

The conversation between Israel Adesanya and Vake that the former put on his Instagram story is as follows:

Israel Adesanya: "Dunno what y'all was yarning about but you left an impression bruv."

Fau Vake: "Just some good yarns about life toko."

Israel Adesanya: "Good lad. Even Matt singing your praises too. Much love tokoua."

Fau Vake: "F***k man ... they know how to make a man blush hahaha, much love toko."

The conversation shows that Vake was a good-natured guy and he was appreciated and loved by his friends and family.

Rest In Peace Fau 😢💔All my love to the Vake family. pic.twitter.com/adD4dnr9DT

— Kyle (@Kyleidoscopic) May 23, 2021

Thoughts with the Vake family and everyone at City Kickboxing, who confirmed Fau Vake has passed away. Fau spent the past week on life support after being attacked from behind by four cowards early last Sunday morning.RIL. pic.twitter.com/Je9TRuUEjZ

— Christopher Reive (@ChrisReive) May 22, 2021

After being brutally attacked by four men on Sunday, Vake was battling for his life throughout the last week at Auckland hospital.

Earlier today, City Kickboxing released an official statement confirming that Vake succumbed to the injuries he suffered.

"It is with inexplicable sadness almost seven days to the hour after his hospital admission, Fau's fight to find his way back to us ended. We will speak when the time is right to ensure Fau's loss is not forgotten, but for now please respect our privacy," read the statement from City Kickboxing.

Israel Adesanya's coach asks for harsher punishment for coward punches

City Kickboxing head coach Eugene Bareman has asked for harsher punishments for people attacking one another from behind.

In 2018, a National Party member's bill was created in which the punishment for coward punching extended to a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

However, the said bill was later rejected by Parliament and Israel Adesanya's coach Bareman doesn't understand why.

"It's hard for us to fathom why that law wasn't passed through at its first reading and clearly there isn't enough of a deterrent. Clearly, our Minister of Justice Kris Faafoi doesn't have his ear to the street. He is welcome to come with me and go for a walk on a Saturday night through town, and he will get a figurative slap in the face, because there is a lot [of violence] going on in town. When you go up behind someone and hit them in the head, your only intent is to inflict as much damage as you can and, ultimately, that is death," Bareman said on the AM Show.