UFC title victory brings peace, if not closure
Israel Adesanya remembers talking to Eugene Bareman in 2012 when the coach couldn’t leave Tahiti.
He didn’t sound like himself. Bareman made the trip to the French colony with one of his students, Willman Rodriguez Gomez, who was making his professional boxing debut.
Gomez collapsed 32 seconds into the fight and was pronounced dead an hour later in hospital. He had some health issues that weren’t picked up and were then exacerbated in the bout.
Last week, the City Kickboxing head coach was able to return to the site in Tahiti where he suffered every coach’s worst fear, with Adesanya’s freshly won UFC middleweight title in hand.
“For him, I wouldn’t say it’s closure, but at least he can be at peace with it,” Adesanya said. “It’s a weird thing; those who know, they know, so I can’t really speak on it. But it was very peaceful for him to take it there and make peace with everything that’s happened on that front.”
Adesanya claimed the undisputed middleweight title with a second round knockout win over Robert Whittaker at UFC 243 in Melbourne earlier this month.
The 30-year-old Kiwi went into the bout as the favourite with the bookies, but Adesanya getting the stop so early into the five-round bout surprised a lot of people.
“I controlled the fight, I controlled the pace. I dictated what I wanted, I made him throw and I made him show his hand. So once I downloaded all that, I was like ‘I’ve seen what your hand is already’. Right — BOOM.”
City Kickboxing has always made a point of acknowledging the gym as family. When their professional fighters go to compete, they are reminded they’re not only fighting for themselves, but for their people, family and friends as well — living or dead.
A photograph of friend and training partner Jamie van der Kuijl, who died in a quad biking accident three years ago, hangs on the wall at the gym. As UFC lightweight Dan Hooker wrote for Athlete’s Voice in September: “We’re all fighting for him now. His spirit is with us every day, telling us to keep chasing our passions and dreams.”
Back when they were young rising stars honing their skills, Adesanya and van der Kuijl would talk about one day winning fights in the UFC.
For Adesanya, winning the title wasn’t an individual achievement.
“I know how Jamie would be reacting,” he said. “He’d be buzzing. I know what he would be saying about everything that we’re doing. He probably would’ve been next in line or be right in there with us in the UFC, he was that good.”
The 30-year-old’s career has come a long way since van der Kuijl’s death.
Going from hyped prospect to title contender to UFC champion since making his debut with the world’s biggest mixed martial arts promotion in February 2018.
But while he’s now one of the biggest names in the sport, those family pillars surrounding him — his actual family and gym family — keep him grounded.
“Ain’t nothing changed but the change. I’m still me; I still keep the same energy.
“A lot of people you see them rise, then they crash, then they fall. I’m not going to be one of those people, so I’m doing all the right things to make sure I’m setting myself up outside the UFC and outside fighting.”
Since making his UFC debut, Adesanya has been investing his wealth and building a portfolio of properties around the country. He knows the MMA game can’t last forever and doesn’t want to become one of those fighters who compete beyond their best-before date, so he’s steadily been laying the foundations for his life beyond the cage.
That’s not to say he isn’t enjoying some his wealth now as well, with his most recent purchase a McLaren Spider supercar, valued at more than US$400,000 ($600,000).
After his win over Whittaker less than a month ago, Adesanya isn’t looking too far beyond the horizon, when No 1 contender Paulo Costa lays in waiting.
With the Kiwi out to work as an active champion, he was hopeful of meeting the Brazilian early in 2020, but said, for now, he was letting himself enjoy the moment.
“I’m looking at what’s next, but I’m trying to smell the roses.”