UFC Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya: ‘I didn’t really realize being black was a problem, until I came to New Zealand’

UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya has opened up about facing racism in New Zealand.

The Nigerian-born and Auckland-based fighter, who will defend his belt at UFC 253 against Brazilian Paolo Costa this Sunday, said he was harassed when he first arrived in New Zealand.

“I didn’t really realize that being black was a problem until I came to New Zealand,” Adesanya said in a comprehensive interview with the Daily Telegraph.

“I say, ‘Why are you being mean to me, why can’t you be nice?’

“My first week at school, there was a kid who was being an idiot to me, he lived down the street, he kept passing my house with his friend saying, ‘Go back to your own black country.’

“I didn’t get it. He was so weird. I didn’t even know this guy, why was he being so mean to me?”

Adesanya said she ended up fighting with the boy, adding that she still “can’t understand” having that kind of hatred.

“Next week at school, he came up to me after the interval and pushed me to the ground, and I lost my shit.

“I hit him, from block D to block K, I hit him for about a minute and a half, and he was crying as I yelled at his butt, then I ran away and hid. It was quite a traumatic experience for me.

“I just didn’t understand, why are you being cruel to me because of the color of my skin? I still can’t understand it because I’m not of that creed.”

Adesanya’s comments echoed her speech at a Black Lives Matter rally in Auckland in June, where she spoke about her anguish at seeing black people being killed by police in America while also referring to the racism she still faces. in New Zealand.

The 31-year-old urged people to take action on racial and social injustices, which, according to him, must go beyond mere awareness.

“What the heck, are you stuck in 1942? It’s like people’s sexual orientation, or their religion, they’re all fighting each other,” he told the Daily Telegraph.

“I don’t think people realize that the powers that be want us to be divided because that way we don’t focus on the real problem, which is the powers that are perpetrating evil in this world.

“When the march happened, I spoke up and I’m very proud of what I said, I was very angry and reacted, but it hasn’t stopped yet.

“Reporters asked me this week, ‘How Tyron Woodley [who lost to fervent Donald Trump supporter Colby Covington last weekend] did, are you trying to raise awareness? ‘What should be made aware of? We all know what is happening.

“As Jay Z said, ‘I’m not kneeling anymore.’ There is no point in raising awareness, what we need is for the world to change, talk to legislators, councilors, mayors, your own city, your own town, your own city , and demand a change from what you think is wrong.

“I’m doing everything I can to change my own world. I can’t change the world, but I can change the world around me, and I think people should try to do that because it’s a shame to see what’s happening to black people all over the world. world “.

However, Adesanya says that he doesn’t see himself as an activist, but simply as a “normal guy” who tries to get by and do what he loves.

“I am still human, I am me and I am still discovering my own self.

“I feel like people are looking at me from a political point of view. I’m like ‘Brother, I’m not the person to look at for political shots.’ I’m a fighter who has something to say about what’s happening in the world. world, but I’m not your councilor.

“Go to those legislators and leaders in your city to express your point of view.

“I’m just a normal guy who does extra regular stuff. And I’m doing very well.

“But I’m still the barefoot guy in West Auckland, walking his dogs through the mud.

“I’m still that headphone guy at Pak ‘n Save trying to do my shopping without 20 people asking me for photos.”

Meanwhile, the undefeated champion also doubled down on his comments saying he is “bigger than the All Blacks.”

“I wasn’t lying, and it’s not just because of my followers on social media, I was talking about: he did the same thing that I think you’re doing, he asked me a question and the media took it as me saying I’m bigger than the All Blacks, “Adesanya said.

“If you ask me a question, I’ll answer it bluntly. I didn’t take much pain, but you can’t argue with me.

“I even said in my answer, I’m not talking about New Zealand, I have a bigger footprint than the All Blacks, not New Zealand, but people from all over the world know me a lot, and it’s something that people have to take, because it is a fact.

“If it’s not a fact for you, that’s fine, I don’t care what people think.”