Israel Adesanya‘s UFC debut couldn’t have gone better! From the moment he stepped into the Octagon at UFC 221 in February 2018, it was clear that the former kickboxer was definitely going to be a superstar. His sharp, quick, and incredibly effective striking, combined with his world-class athleticism and high fight IQ, was just too much for his opponent, Rob Wilkinson, who did test ‘Izzy’s takedown defense a fair bit before being battered, bloodied, and stopped by the future champion in the second round. Oh, and the Kiwi-Nigerian made $500k on debut, plus a $50k performance bonus.

This is a far cry from the paltry, low five figures that UFC debutantes usually make. This just goes to show that Dana White and Co. were well aware of the Yoruba’s potential as a future champion and superstar. So you would expect Adesanya to be on cloud nine after such a fantastic performance, right? Well, actually no. Quite the opposite! In fact, as the former 2-time middleweight champion talked about his massive UFC debut paycheck and his mental health issues after his debut on Kamaru Usman and Henry Cejudo’s ‘Pound 4 Pound’ podcast.

“Look, I made my UFC debut. I didn’t make the 10 and 10 like everyone else, I made six figures, and then I made a 50K bonus on top of that, stole the show from who was the main event? [Luke] Rockold versus Yoel [Romero], I believe Yoel. And I felt like I stole the show. People were talking about me, and I was in the cage on the way in. And afterwards [people were like] ‘new dog in the yard,'” he said.

“And then I go home and I just crash. I was like, I didn’t understand, so for me that’s when I started going to therapy because I realized, okay, this is, I don’t want to say this is bad, but it was bad. I was like ‘damn I shouldn’t be sad,'” he added.

This, as you can imagine, is what everyone else thinks, too. There is no reason for him to be sad after making high six figures after a very successful debut on the world’s biggest, most prestigious fight promotion in the world. So what caused it?

Israel Adesanya explains why he was sad despite statement-making, six-figure UFC debut

Adesanya would realize in therapy that the reason he felt so down, despite the fantastic debut, was because of a lack of stimulus when he went back home after the glitz and glamour of the UFC event.

“You’re the man, this that, cameras, lights, action blah blah blah. Then I go home and I’m in my I like sitting in the dark in my dark living room or my dark room and I just chill and I’m just there’s no stimulus. So it’s like coffee, you know, the coffee high. And then when the coffee stimulus wears off, you have the crash, so it’s like that but for your spirit,” ‘Izzy’ explained.

Talking about mental health issues and anxiety isn’t something that fighters are usually big on. Some even consider it a sign of weakness and try to avoid even acknowledging to themselves, let alone someone else publicly, that they have such issues.

However, ‘Izzy’ is not one of those fighters and has bravely talked about his mental health issues and how therapy helped him overcome them, which is an important example for other, younger fighters. What do you think about Israel Adesanya’s revelations about his UFC debut paycheck and mental health issues?