Why millions love Adesanya, UFC
Israel Adesanya is an immense athletic talent. He has plenty to say and interesting ways of saying it. There are those repelled by mixed martial arts, yet it and Adesanya both are magnetic and misunderstood.
Why is the Ultimate Fighting Championship so loved globally, to the extent Adesanya can say he’s ‘‘bigger than the All Blacks’’?
That utterance ground the gears of traditional Kiwi sports fans in the way John Lennon did when proclaiming The Beatles ‘‘more popular than Jesus’’.
UFC is not a traditional sport. Born out of a wide range of martial arts, it can be linked to the popularity of movie stars such as Bruce Lee and Jean-Claude Van Damme, who found fame through mixed martial arts action films.
And then the UFC grabbed it, applied some rules, and set up a structure with one promoter. Dana
White now has all the best fighters working for him, and the others desperate to get a UFC deal.
Unlike boxing, his organisation has the power to deliver the fans the
certainty of the best fighters, in the best fights. Boxing? Four major belts, with acronyms everywhere – WBO, WBA, WBC, IBF – and boxers dancing and weaving outside the ring as well, as the tug-of-war to get them in the ring goes ever on.
None of that for Dana White: it’s simply, ‘‘you two, get in there’’.
And UFC fighters have embraced social media in the digital era, as elsewhere the utterances of rugby players are controlled, footballers are rarely made available to speak by their clubs, and media managers act like Fort Knox security guards.
UFC is a modern sport, created in a modern era, with an open mind on engaging with fans, with fighters who have a likeness for criticising modern media keyboard warriors like the one you’re (hopefully) reading now.
Even in victory on Sunday, Adesanya took a quick kick at the kneecaps: ‘‘and I see you media people as well, with your little clickbait headlines.’’
At the Halberg Awards this year, he told New Zealanders: ‘‘When you see one of us rising, you want to tear him down because you feel inadequate and you want to call it humble.’’ Maybe, maybe not. Maybe the fear is of the unknown newcomer, a form of sports xenophobia. As the new kid in the sporting Octagon, UFC lies outside traditional sport, with its martial arts mayhem cited as too bloody for some.
But it is intriguing too. Sports fans would love to see rugby players play league players, to see which style would win. UFC is all that. It has wrestling, boxing, taekwondo, capoeira, ju-jitsu, muay thai, kickboxing, judo, it has karate. As a master of many, Adesanya is dubbed the ‘‘The Last Stylebender’’.
As in any sport, fighters have strengths and weaknesses, to exploit. Therein lies the secret. Would a grappler who can’t punch beat a puncher who isn’t so hot at kick boxing?
UFC has more possible scenarios than individual martial arts contests. Its fans see two highly trained fighters face off to determine who is better that day, often not knowing the answer.
But is he bigger than the All Blacks? Google searches reveal 22.4 million hits for ‘‘All Blacks rugby’’, 12.3m for ‘‘Adesanya UFC’’, and 1.45m for ‘‘Sam Cane All Blacks’’.