Israel Adesanya

CTL-E-7135 · Person · other · contemporary

VERIFIED evidence grade — build store (JSON graph)

Combined Graph record U-08007 · provenance: build store (JSON graph), record CTL-E-7135.

Israel Adesanya (born July 22, 1989, in Lagos, Nigeria) is a Nigerian-New Zealand mixed martial artist and former kickboxer, a two-time UFC middleweight champion. Adesanya was born in Lagos and raised in Rotorua, New Zealand, where he built a professional kickboxing record reported at 75–5, won GLORY's 2016 middleweight contender tournament, and lost twice to Alex Pereira — the rivalry that would later define his UFC years. He debuted in the UFC in February 2018, beat his idol Anderson Silva, and took the interim middleweight title from Kelvin Gastelum in April 2019 before knocking out Robert Whittaker at UFC 243 that October to unify the championship. Five defenses followed. He lost the title to Pereira at UFC 281 in November 2022 and won it back by knockout at UFC 287 in April 2023, then lost it to Sean Strickland that September. Three further losses — to Dricus Du Plessis by submission in August 2024, to Nassourdine Imavov in February 2025, and to Joe Pyfer by second-round TKO in Seattle on March 28, 2026 — made four straight; Adesanya said afterward that he intends to keep fighting. His record is 24–6 (13–6 in the UFC).

The record

• Also known as: The Last Stylebender

Notes

Kickboxing totals vary slightly by tally (one major outlet reports 75–4); the description follows the 75–5 figure carried by most profiles. A reported late-2026 bout against Shara Magomedov has not been officially announced by the UFC and is not asserted here. Curator's Judgment (DRAFT): Adesanya brought a kickboxer's whole second career into the Octagon and ruled with it; the current four-fight skid is carried at full length, because the record is the record. Photo: CLEARED — Israel Adesanya at UFC 230.jpg, CC BY 3.0.

Sources

• Sherdog, “Joe Pyfer pounds out Israel Adesanya in UFC Seattle headliner” (March 28, 2026); accessed 2026-11-04 (primary source · build store)
• DAZN, “Alex Pereira, Israel Adesanya and more: Ranking the UFC's greatest ever kickboxers”; accessed 2026-11-04 (build store)
• TheSportster, “Israel Adesanya” (fighter profile); accessed 2026-11-04 (build store)
• Reuters, “Israel Adesanya knocked out by Joe Pyfer at UFC Fight Night in Seattle” (March 29, 2026), via RocketNews; accessed 2026-11-04 (build store)

More person records

• Maya Rudolph
• Maysa
• Maze Jackson
• MC Hammer
• MC Lyte
• MC Shan

Browse the full directory: all entity records

Record CTL-E-7135 · Combined Graph record U-08007 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · 4 sources.
Directory: all entity records · the knowledge graph

Researched and maintained by the CultureTechLens research program · CultureTechLens Combined Graph, Release 2026-11-04. Corrections are public: the corrections log.

Cite this record

Citation guidance for teachers, journalists, and funders: How to Cite Us.

From the Archive

The archive in pictures

The people, places, and institutions this work documents. Photographs from the CultureTechLens research record — rights-cleared, credited, and cited like everything else here.