The 2024 Paris Olympics have the entire world encompassed with talks about the games. Even though the 2024 Olympic Games have the sports fans’ entropy greatly heightened, topics shrouded with controversies weren’t too far behind. One such controversial event was the boxing match between Imane Khelif and Angela Carini. Despite her victory, Khelif, the Algerian boxer, received quite a bit of backlash due to gender misconceptions. 

Surprisingly, the former 2-time UFC MW champ, Israel Adesanya also fell into the trap of misunderstandings and lashed out at the Algerian on X. Nevertheless, the Kiwi mixed martial artist has now apologized to the boxer for his harsh words. 

Israel Adesanya sends an apology to Imane Khelif

Right after Khelif knocked out Carini in just 46 seconds, the Italian boxer claimed that she had never been hit so hard, and gave rise to doubts about the Algerian’s gender. To fire to the debates, the IBA had previously disqualified Khelif from the 2023 World Championship on the basis of gender eligibility. But when the IOC allowed her to compete, the world erupted in rage. 

Adesanya, along with many others, took to X and wrote, “Men should not be boxing women. Lol he couldn’t even finish her. Anyway, People > politics.” He also dropped in a visual of Khelif’s hand being raised at the Olympics. But now, the former middleweight champion has realized the grave mistake he committed.

Adesanya said, “You know what? From now on, I’m gonna leave women’s fights to women. I’m gonna leave it to you guys, because whenever I try to speak up about it, and then apparently, I got it wrong. A lot of people got it wrong. And there’s misinformation.” He claimed that he spoke about it because he got triggered by the news pieces about the boxer. 

Adesanya continued, “I was like, ‘Why are they letting a trans person…’ And then I find out later, and I’m like, ‘Okay. She wasn’t actually a trans.’ So, to the lady, my bad. I got that wrong. But like, for me, still there’s just all this grey area… But anyway, to the lady, the boxer, I’m sorry. I didn’t understand what was going on.”

The backlash is definitely something that can destroy a fighter’s spirit. And the case was the same for Khelif. After Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee, defended the Algerian boxer and challenged the illegitimate decision of the IBA, she addressed the issue and asked for the bullying to stop.

The Algerian boxer reveals the toll all the bullying has taken on her

Despite advancing to the gold medal at the Olympic Games, Khelif was left completely shattered by all the heat she received from the public. Reflecting on the controversy, she said, “I send a message to all the people of the world to uphold the Olympic principles and the Olympic Charter, to refrain from bullying all athletes, because this has effects, massive effects”. 

Imane Khelif claimed that such bullying had the power to destroy “people’s thoughts, spirit and mind.” Needless to say, the lashings also had her family worried about her. Nevertheless, she mustered up all the courage and proceeded to defeat Anna Luca Hamori. Now, she has advanced to compete for the gold medal against Thailand’s Janjaem Suwannapheng. 

Do you think Adesanya did the right thing by apologizing to Khelif? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.