Israel Adesanya was a hair’s breadth away from becoming the face of BMW in New Zealand. In 2021, the former UFC middleweight champion was in the final stages of becoming the premiere German car company’s brand ambassador.

However, a controversial comment he made to Kevin Holland during that time led the company to distance itself from Adesanya, and pull out of the deal. Not to mention the flak ‘Izzy’ caught right up to the Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand. However, what really hurt ‘Izzy’ was that he felt his own team and long-time coach did not have his back.

What happened between Israel Adesanya and coach Eugene Bareman?

Israel Adesanya’s 2023 film ‘Stylebender’ documented this turbulent time in his life. The film shows his City Kickboxing long-time coach Eugene Bareman, after ‘Izzy’s distasteful comments, having a heart-to-heart with his defiant student, trying to get him to apologize. Adesanya, however, was having none of it and flatly refused.

Adesanya, in fact, saw Bareman asking him to apologize as the coach not supporting him. So hurt was he by this ‘betrayal’ that he set out to be with his family since they were in his corner one hundred percent, unlike his team and coach.

“I went to Whanganui [after BMW pulled out of just-about-to-be-finalized sponsorship deal] to just go see my parents, be in there presence, people who love me just for me. Them having my back was everything. That’s it, they just rallied around me. I’m a lot better now, but still there’s like, this shadowy cloud that’s still kinda lingering. BMW and I were never friends, but I was disappointed in my team, and angry with them, because they didn’t have my back,” he said.

This rift had even more serious consequences for their relationship as the former champ felt that he could no longer count on Bareman to back him no matter what. So Adesanya found someone who would- his father. The Kiwi-Nigerian, to keep a ‘check’ on his coach and team, enlisted the help of his own father, who became a part of his team, at least temporarily, and in spite of his coach not being comfortable with it.

“Funny thing is even Eugene used to make fun of me, like when my dad started kinda getting involved a little bit. He might tell me ‘It’s just been you and me, your dad just got here, but he needs to understand the fight game is this and that.’ But I’m like ‘Nah, he’s been here way before you.’… It’s like they were afraid my dad’s gonna like, check them. But it’s good, I like that. He’s just there like the hawk just watching the eagle,” he added.

Eventually, Adesanya got over it and mended his relationship with his coach, who has been with him almost from the beginning and is one of the best coaches in the world, known to always do what is best for his fighters. Bareman even seems to have convinced ‘Izzy’ to apologize, which he has refused to do for his more recent ‘transgressions’.

‘Izzy’ and Dricus Du Plessis’ strange faceoff

Reigning middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis, who is from South Africa, made comments last year about being the first ‘real African champion’ and the first to actually bring the UFC belt to the continent since he actually lived and trained there. Unlike the other African champions, including Adesanya, who moved to New Zealand when he was ten, where he continues to live and train.

‘Izzy’, who had to face bullying and discrimination as a teen in his adopted country because of the color of his skin and his African heritage, took a very dim view of ‘DDP’s comments. The Yoruba saw it as Du Plessis had a ‘colonial mindset’ and was questioning his heritage and love for his homeland and continent.

The South African doubling down on the comments only made Adesanya even more incensed, culminating in their bizarre, expletive-filled UFC 293 face-off. A clearly triggered ‘Izzy’ called his African compatriot the n-word, a “b***h” and his “brother” in a heated rant. None of this presumably went down well with the sponsors, who usually look down on these things.

However so real and intense is Adesanya’s animosity for Du Plessis that he, too, doubled down on his controversial comments. Thankfully, both men will have the chance to settle their differences in a long-time-in-the-making grudge match on UFC 305 this Saturday. And it doesn’t get much better than that. Two brilliant, championship-level fighters who genuinely hate each other going head-to-head in what will be a striking masterclass to prove they’re the best fighter in the world at their weight class. A better matchup couldn’t be made in a lab.