While most debuting UFC fighters make peanuts, Israel Adesanya walked away with six figures following his first appearance inside the Octagon.
Today, ‘The Last Stylebender’ is an undeniable legend of the sport and the UFC’s only two-time middleweight titleholder. But just seven short years ago, Adesanya was just another world-class kickboxer trying to make the move to MMA. Squaring off with Rob Wilkinson in his promotional premier at UFC 221, Adesanya delivered a spectacular performance, battering and bloodying his opponent en route to a second-round TKO.
At the time, most newcomers were on a 10k/10k contract, meaning that you’d get $10,000 for showing up and another $10,000 if you win. Nowadays, the contracts are pretty much the same, though they typically start at 12k/12k.
However, the ‘Stylebender’ walked away with much more than that.
“My UFC debut, I didn’t make the 10 and 10 like everyone else, I made six figures, and then I made a 50k bonus on top of that,” Adesanya said during an appearance on the Pound-4-Pound podcast with Kamaru Usman and Henry Cejudo. “Stole the show from, who was the main event? Rockhold versus Yoel, I believe. I felt like I stole the show, people were talking about me, and I was f*cking on top of the world” (h/t Bloody Elbow).
Adesanya struggled following his UFC debut
Adesanya was on cloud nine following his highlight-reel debut, but he quickly came crashing back down to earth once the adrenaline wore off.
“I’d go home and I’d just f*cking crash. I didn’t understand. For me, that’s when I started going to therapy because I realized, like okay, this is, I don’t want to say this is bad, but it was bad. I was like damn, I shouldn’t be sad and then you feel guilty for feeling sad.”
Adesanya is currently sitting on a three-fight losing streak, the first of his career in any sport.
Since coming up short against Nassourdine Imavov in February, the ‘Stylebender’ has not yet booked a return to the Octagon, though he did make it clear that a rematch with Sean Strickland is on his MMA bucket list.
