Nigeria-born New Zealand professional Mixed Martial Artist, Israel Adesanya, will be inducted into the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Hall of Fame today (Thursday) 26 June, 2025, at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, USA.
The 35-year-old former two-time UFC middleweight champion will Be Inducted to the Fight Wing for his epic fight against Kelvin Gastelum in 2019.
Adesanya defeated Gastelum by unanimous decision after landing a record of four knockdowns in a title fight to win the Interim UFC Middleweight Championship at UFC 236.
Other epic contests like Forrest Griffin vs. Stephan Bonnar, Matt Hughes vs. Frank Trigg II and Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen will also be inducted in the 2025 class.
“I was surprised,” Adesanya admitted in an interviewed in February after he found out he would be inducted.
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“I was like Hall of Fame? I’m too young but I wouldn’t fight it, I’ll accept it. If they want to honour me like that I’ll take it. I’m very grateful.”
Adesanya made his debut in UFC against Rob Wilkinson on 11 February 2018, at UFC 221.
He won the fight via technical knockout in the second round. The fight earned him a Performance of the Night award.
Adesanya faced Gastelum for the interim UFC Middleweight Championship on 13 April 2019, in the co-main event of UFC 236.
He won the back-and-forth fight via unanimous decision, with all three judges scoring the fight 48–46.
This fight earned him the Fight of the Night award, and the fight was widely regarded as the best fight of the year, earning the nomination from most of the MMA news outlets.
He then faced Robert Whittaker in a title unification bout on 6 October 2019, headlining UFC 243 for UFC Middleweight Championship.
After a knockdown in last second of the first round, Adesanya won the fight via knockout in the second round.
By James Agberebi
