UFC: Israel Adesanya shows class with sincere gesture for coach on flight home

He may be the king of the UFC, but Kiwi star Israel Adesanya has shown that he is still selfless at heart.

Adesanya pulled off his UFC 253 title defense against Paulo Costa on Sunday with a second-round TKO, giving the Brazilian his first professional loss in emphatic fashion.

While traveling back to New Zealand via Las Vegas with his team from the Auckland City Kickboxing gym, Adesanya made the sincere gesture of giving up his first-class seat to one of his coaches.

UFC commentator Jon Anik, who was also on the flight, shared the moment on Twitter.

“He flew back to Las Vegas with the still undisputed middleweight king and will not be at all surprised to learn that Israel Adesanya gave his first-class seat to one of his cornerbacks. Total package, that guy,” Anik wrote.

Meanwhile, Costa criticized Adesanya’s post-match celebration, calling it “human garbage” while demanding a rematch.

‘The Last Stylebender’ completely dominated Costa before catching him with a left hook to the side of the head to begin the end of the procedure.

He then mounted Costa and it started raining down heavy blows before referee Jason Herzog stepped in to dismiss the fight.

Adesanya seemed to grab Costa from behind and thrust her hips forward aggressively.

Costa reacted to Adesanya’s actions in a post on social media.

“I come here to talk about the actions that human trash did after our fight,” Costa said during a video posted on his Instagram. “I didn’t see when I was there [in] the cage but I saw now. I disapprove of it 100 percent. For me this is [personal] now. No one will stop me. No one can stop me. “

Costa requested a rematch, even suggesting he was injured prior to the fight.

“I want my rematch. You know I’m waiting for you. Something happened before the fight, no [making] Apologies here to my people, my fans, but I will be 100 percent to fight him and make him pay. That is my word. Save my words. “

Adesanya responded quickly on social media saying, “I can stop you … again 🙂 I don’t like it.”

Costa is unlikely to get a rematch due to how one-sided the fight was and the long list of fighters eager to strip Adesanya’s belt.