"I've always appreciated the realness" - Israel Adesanya praises Tyson Fury for standing up for those 'who can't speak up'

Israel Adesanya has praised Tyson Fury ahead of his fight against long-time rival Deontay Wilder on Saturday.

BT Sport recently shared a video where a host of athletes from the sporting world wished Fury the best of luck as he gets ready to complete the trilogy with 'The Bronze Bomber'. Adesanya was among those who sent 'The Gypsy King' a message. He specifically praised him for standing up for those "who can't speak up."

"You've done this countless times. You know what to do. You guys have fought twice. This is gonna be one of the best trilogies in boxing history. But scratch all that, one thing I want to commend you for, Tyson. I listened to your interview with Ariel the other day. And that was some of the realest s**t any fighter has ever said. I try to keep it as real as possible. I've always appreciated the realness so keep doing that. Keep championing. You know the fight for those who can't speak up. Yeah, we'll speak up for them. Appreciate that, go hard!"

Watch Israel Adesanya and several other sporting superstars wish Tyson Fury luck ahead of his showdown with Deontay Wilder below:

Tyson Fury appeared on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani earlier this month. He spoke about his upcoming third bout with Wilder and Anthony Joshua's loss to Oleksandr Usyk. He also discussed what makes him different from combat sports sensations like Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Watch Tyson Fury in conversation with Ariel Helwani below:

Fury and Wilder settled for a split decision draw when they fought for the first time in December 2018.

The Englishman won the rematch via TKO in the seventh round and claimed both the WBC and vacant The Ring heavyweight titles in February 2020.

---

Israel Adesanya is likely to defend his belt against Robert Whittaker in a rematch at UFC 271

Israel Adesanya looks set to defend his middleweight championship against No.1 contender Robert Whittaker in a rematch at UFC 271. The pay-per-view is set to go down in February 2022.

'The Last Stylebender' beat 'The Reaper' at UFC 243 in October 2019 to win the middleweight belt. Since then, the Nigerian-born New Zealander has defended his title thrice against Yoel Romero, Paulo Costa and Marvin Vettori.

Adesanya also unsuccessfully challenged for Jan Blachowicz's UFC light heavyweight championship earlier this year. That was his first loss in the sport.

Meanwhile, Whittaker is currently on a three-fight winning streak. He came out on top against Darren Till, Jared Cannonier and Kelvin Gastelum.