“Energy never dies” – Israel Adesanya meets fellow UFC fighter Sodiq Yusuff for local boxing event, gets hero’s welcome back in Nigeria

Israel Adesanya couldn’t bring his former UFC middleweight belt home. But that doesn’t seem to be a problem for the fans in Nigeria. The Nigerian Kiwi, born in Lagos, recently dropped a fourth-round submission loss to Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 305. Despite the loss, he didn’t cancel plans to return to his native Nigeria and even met with Sodiq Yusuff.

All the participating athletes in the UFC 305 pay-per-view (PPV) event suffered suspensions, including Israel Adesanya. Although, some were just mandatory medical leaves. Izzy is facing a 30-day medical suspension after his hard-hitting title loss. Enjoying his time back home, a lot of social media posts featuring the African UFC brand face are going viral.

🇳🇬❗❗Energy never dies, it can be passed on and amplified ❤️‍🔥.Bless the future, bless my people, their flame inspired me!
Israel Adesanya via X (@stylebender)

Despite ending his title run for the immediate future, Adesanya is in good spirits. There’s a video from Lagos where ‘Stylebender’ visits a grocery store. He’s mobbed by friendly fans who subsequently follow him around the store. Another shows Izzy and his family singing at a church. Both times, the area was reportedly full of fans when people found Adesanya nearby.

Earning in the $1.79 million bracket, the CKB fighter had opened the “Adesanya Close” Property development and management venture with his father. He will expectedly visit that as well. Nigeria’s ‘Super’ Sodiq Yusuff, who now follows in his legacy footsteps, also attended a local boxing event along with Izzy. The crowd gave Adesanya a big round of applause as he talked about up-and-coming local talent. As such, his return has gone quite viral.

Fans react to Israel Adesanya’s return back home

Adesanya’s last 12 fights were UFC title fights, but he has now lost three of four. This has put the 35-year-old former champion in a tough spot. But the former champ is optimistic he can return well soon after UFC 305. Israel Adesanya proclaimed as much after his fight, saying he was going nowhere.

Adesanya’s coach Mike Angove sees positives from the fight with the UFC middleweight champion. Even old rival Robert Whittaker saw the same, saying that he could bank on that momentum one day against a better warrior like DDP. While he thinks there’s more fight left in him, Izzy is now visiting his homeland and taking some much-needed time. Here’s how fans have reacted to his homecoming, and hitting up Sodiq Yusuff.