Nate Diaz and Jake Paul are set to face each other in a boxing match in August. They had their first press conference for the same in May. While Diaz and Paul said their fair share about each other, another interaction made headlines. One of the media members took a shot at Nate Diaz’ elder brother Nick Diaz, challenging him to a fight. The incident drew harsh reactions from many fans and pros after they deemed it deeply disrespectful.
Now, UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya has had an encounter with the same individual and the fans are loving ‘Izzy’ all the more for it. Without any malice, ‘Stylebender’ let him know that there is more to combat sports than profanity-laden callouts.
At the Diaz-Paul press conference, Derek Sullivan, from Paul’s media house Betr had a tense moment with Nate Diaz. During his turn to ask Diaz a question, Sullivan said, “Nate, I’m actually a boxer myself and I’ve been trying to get into this undercard. I was just wondering if you think I could fight your brother, Nick. If he’s anything like you I’d beat his f***ing a**.”
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Diaz warned the young journalist against such brash talk and Paul apologized to the UFC veteran, stating that he would fire his employee later. Now, Israel Adesanya got his hands on Derek Sullivan and gave him a small taste of what combat sports actually feel like.
Israel Adesanya serves humble pie to disrespectful journalist
In a recent clip that surfaced on social media, we see Israel Adesanya meeting the infamous ‘Derek from Betr Media.’ We see ‘Stylebender’ recognize him and say, “You’re that guy” referring to the incident with Diaz.
Adesanya jokingly said, “I’ll kick your a**.” Later, we see Sullivan posture up to receive a kick from Adesanya and the champion, reassuring him saying, “You’ll feel pain but I won’t hurt you.” However, Sullivan winced from the pain and clutched the right side of his torso after the middleweight champion landed a body kick.
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As ‘Derek ‘ claimed it hurt and tried to walk it off, Adesanya and his teammate, Alexander Volkanovski, among others, joined in on the joke. Sullivan then said, “Nate Diaz, you see this sh*t bro?”
Fans react to Adesanya kicking Nate Diaz’s heckler
Fans loved watching the loudmouth journalist get a taste of real fighting. While it was all fun and games, some of them wanted Adesanya to go a bit harder on the journalist.
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Following are some of their reactions:
- izzy shoulda went even harder than that guy deserves it
- this guy disrespected nick diaz and all of a sudden hes famous
- Stoppage seems early. Derek needed follow ups
- The redness in his face confirms he’s in fact NOT fine.. took the only dump when he got home
- Damn that kick sounded like a whip
- Perfect just enough to let him know how much he doesn’t know
- Shoulda knocked his a*s out for the Diaz slander
- So smooth he didn’t even give the kid time to flinch.
- 100% shoulda faked the body and took his head off with a question mark kick
Disrespectful callouts are slowly becoming the norm in combat sports. Do you think they help get more eyes on the fight? What did you think of Derek Sullivan’s comments to Diaz? What are your thoughts on Adesanya’s interaction with him?
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Let us know in the comments.