The 35-year-old Nigerian-born UFC fighter, Israel Adesanya, a two-time middleweight champion, revealed that he faced a financial crisis after losing to Alex Pereira.
He recounted on The JRE podcast how the organization he fought for suddenly stopped giving him fights: “When I was fighting in China and I lost to Alex, they stopped giving me fights. I think, at the time, I was the highest-paid foreign fighter in China, but then they stopped giving me fights.”
Adesanya mentioned that despite having seven more fights left on his contract, he was not given the opportunities he deserved. He fell into such a dire financial situation that he could barely manage to have $500 for groceries that week.
His coach, Eugene Bareman, provided financial support that helped him out of this tough situation. Adesanya became emotional and teary-eyed as he recounted this event during the podcast.
