Is Israel Adesanya ‘Yoruba’? Real Ethnicity, Religion & Background

Israel Adesanya has hardly disappointed the fighting community with his performance inside the Octagon. However, the last two fights have not gone on the former two-time middleweight champion’s side. However, Adesanya seeks redemption as he returns for his first non-title bout in many years against Nassourdine Imavov when the UFC returns to Saudi Arabia.

Needless to say, ‘The Last Stylebender’s UFC journey is well documented, but do you know about his origins? Well, we’ve got you covered, so let’s start with Israel Adesanya’s roots and background.

Where is Israel Adesanya from?

The answer to the aforementioned question is ‘Yes’. He is indeed an African native, with his roots lying in Lagos, Nigeria, but he’s a citizen of both his native country and New Zealand. ‘The Last Stylebender’ was born on July 22nd, 1989. His father, Femi Adesanya, worked as an accountant, and his mother, Taiwo Adesanya, worked as a nurse. The middleweight mixed martial artist is the oldest of 5 siblings, and on top of that, ‘The Last Stylebender’ often flaunted his Yoruba ethnicity.

The former two-time middleweight champion had previously mentioned that he feels privileged to come from a well-off family and was a happy kid growing up. He did his primary education at Chrisland School at Opebi in Ikeja, Lagos. He then completed his high school education from Ota in Ogun state. Before we go any further on Adesanya’s life, let’s learn more about his ethnic background.

More about ‘Yoruba’, Israel Adesanya’s ethnicity

Israel Adesanya’s group, the Yoruba, is a community that largely lives in Nigeria and is one of the largest African ethnic groups. He spoke the Yoruba language while growing up, which is a combination of the Niger-Combo language. As of now, the global count for people belonging to the Yoruba ethnic group is around 38 million. Meanwhile, Adesanya’s ethnicity once became a topic of huge controversy.

UFC Champion Dricus du Plessis once questioned Israel Adesanya’s allegiance to Africa since he lives in New Zealand. As such, he claimed to be the ‘real African’. At the UFC 285 press conference, DDP said, “Did those belts ever go to Africa? As far as I know, they came to America and New Zealand. I’m going to take a belt to Africa… That’s an African champion, and that’s who I’ll be.” These words triggered a severe rant from ‘The Last Stylebender’ at UFC 290, which was one of the most replayed moments in the UFC 2023 calendar year.

But that’s in the past now, and after their UFC 305 clash, they settled their differences. Now, let us take a look at another aspect of Adesanya’s life, which is his religion.

What religion does Israel Adesanya follow?

Born into a family of Christians, Israel Adesanya has often raised questions about religion and made the fight fans wonder about his religious beliefs. There are instances where ‘The Last Stylebender’ talked about the teachings of Christianity. He doesn’t really like to align himself with a particular faith. Furthermore, Adesanya has even shown skepticism towards Christianity numerous times.

But things began to go awry after the Christchurch mosque shootings, on 15 March 2019. That was when he began to show an interest in understanding the ways of Islam, even though he was not a follower of the religion. Israel Adesanya even visited a mosque and celebrated Christmas, further sending the fight fans off balance. But what was life growing up like for Adesanya? Well, let’s explore that part of his life.

The background and early life of UFC’s ‘Stylebender’

Israel Adesanya had a keen interest in martial arts as well as dancing during his school days. He used to roam with friends who learned to dance and he tried to copy their moves and learn. But before he could complete his secondary education, Adesanya’s parents decided to move out of their native country to provide good education to their children.

They spent 10 months in Ghana and pondered their options going further. They had the US and New Zealand in mind and they stuck with the latter as the US was experiencing turmoil after 9/11. The family made their new home in the city of Rotorua, where Israel Adesanya completed his remaining high school education. Later, he moved to Auckland and established himself there, and that is the reason why the Nigerian-born fighter is billed as competing out of Auckland, New Zealand.

Well, he’ll be traveling all the way to the Middle East for his upcoming fight. So let us know your predictions for Israel Adesanya’s non-title headliner against Nassourdine Imavov in the comments down below.