Israel Adesanya has a pretty close connection to his gym, City Kickboxing. After all, he has trained there for most of his UFC career. So when his teammates faced unexpected defeat due to bad judgment, the former 2-time UFC middleweight champion simply couldn’t stay shut. That’s what happened back on October 5, 2024, when one of Adesanya’s teammates, Taj Kagho, competed in the boxing qualifiers for the Commonwealth Games.

Needless to say, the City Kickboxing representative showed no mercy to his opponent and demonstrated a breathtaking performance. Despite that, the judges decided to tilt the scorecards away from his favor, as the boxer lost via split decision. This greatly infuriated ‘The Last Stylebender’. 

The former UFC MW champ took to Instagram and shared a video of Kagho’s bout. But it seemed like there was a pattern to the defeats. Back in August 2023, Genah Fabian, another teammate of the CKB competed in a qualifier game. But the curse of split-decision defeats engulfed her and she lost the bout. Next, it was Kagho who stepped into the ring right after Fabian’s defeat. And surprisingly, he too lost via a split decision. ‘Stylebender’ shared the clips of the defeats on social media and ranted about the corruption against CKB. 

In the caption, Israel Adesanya wrote, “Corruption…still alive in NZ Boxing. I’ve had my share of daylight and night time robberies with boxing. A kickboxer with zero amateur fights whooping pros lol. But these young guys in the amateurs aren’t getting paid, all they have is a dream. To take a dream from young person who has EARNT his was is low as f–k. Olympic and commonwealth qualifying matches snatched away…all because they’re from @citykickboxing . We’ve noticed the pattern over the years, even on the judges scorecards. Give these young athletes a fair shake and stop taking their dreams away. Just think of it like this…if the best boxer actually goes to the world stage and wins then “WE ALL WIN!” 

But if you think this was the only time Adesanya raised his voice against the robbery of his teammate’s victory, you’d be surprised to know that he has done it before. And it was all for Kai Kara-France.

Israel Adesanya stands tall in defense of his teammates

The fight between Kai Kara-France and Amir Albazi back in June 2023 had the entire MMA realm in high heat. Kara-France indeed demonstrated a performance that should not have been voted against. But the judges scored the cards in Albazi’s favor and Adesanya’s teammate lost via a split decision. Enraged by the act, ‘Stylebender’ took to X and wrote, “I tweeted that before even seeing the scorecards because I knew them two will f–k it up!! Hoooow many times will they rob athletes of their moments of glory, if their money, their livelihood for their family.”

The former middleweight champ dissed the judges. But it was Mike Bell who got himself on the Nigerian-born fighter’s good side. He went on, “they need to expire quickly and go. Mike Bell was the only judge to score this properly, the other two deff need to disappear.” On top of that, the New Zealander had a suggestion for the higher-ups. He suggested that they should interview the judges properly before hiring them. In a tweet, he wrote, “Start interviewing the judges after fights. Hold them accountable for their work.”

But looking at the recent boxing bouts, all Adesanya could feel was rage for his teammates’ unfortunate defeats. What are your thoughts on Adesanya’s claims? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.