Israel Adesanya was arrested and briefly detained at a New York airport after he attempted to go through security with brass knuckles.
Israel Adesanya : Arrested | Brass knuckles | Fight
Adesanya is a Nigerian-New Zealander professional mixed martial artist, kickboxer, and former boxer with multiple championships in all three disciplines.
| Born | Israel Mobolaji Adesanya 22 July 1989 Lagos, Nigeria |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The Last Stylebender |
| Residence | Auckland, New Zealand |
| Nationality | Nigerian New Zealander |
| Height | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) |
| Weight | 185 lb (84 kg; 13 st 3 lb) |
As a mixed martial artist, he currently competes in the Middleweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is a former UFC Middleweight Champion. In kickboxing, he is a former Glory Middleweight Championship title challenger.
As of November 14, 2022, he is #1 in the UFC middleweight rankings, and #6 in the UFC men’s pound-for-pound rankings.
Israel Adesanya arrested
Former UFC middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya, has reportedly been arrested for taking brass knuckles through security and John F. Kennedy Airport in New York.
The 33-year-old, who lost his title by TKO to Alex Pereira in New York last Saturday, was arrested by Port Authority police in the American Airlines terminal on Wednesday.
According to a report on Daily Mail, a Port Authority spokesperson at the John F. Kennedy Airport in New York confirmed the arrest, saying Adesanya was booked for possessing ‘metal knuckles.’
Brass knuckles are a Class A misdemeanor in New York, and it is also illegal to bring them aboard an airplane. It’s not clear where Adesanya allegedly stored the weapon.
Spokespeople from the UFC are yet to react to the incident.
Adesanya’s loss has seen him plummet down the pound-for-pound rankings, dropping from No. 2 to No. 8 on MMAfighting.com.
A native of Lagos, Nigeria, Adesanya is now a citizen of New Zealand and currently lives in Auckland.
Israel Adesanya brass knuckles
As he attempted to leave New York City, UFC Middleweight Israel Adesanya was detained by the JFK Airport police for possession of brass knuckles.
These are considered a weapon and they are completely illegal at any airport in the United States. When the airport security was checking on Adesanya’s luggage, they found the item that ‘Izzy’ didn’t know existed.
The story behind what actually happened will surprise more than one but needless to say, Adesanya immediately cooperated with the authorities and the matter was settled.
As it turns out, a fan offered a wrapped gift to the former champ that Adesanya didn’t think about opening. He simply put it in his luggage and decided to travel with it.
To his surprise, that gift was a set of brass knuckles that the police obviously found. Since they realized Adesanya wasn’t aware he carried these with him, they reportedly let him leave without an issue.
It is still unclear how much time Adesanya was kept in custody while the matter was settled but he was there for an important period of time.
As the matter happened, the police kept the fighter in custody and reports of the detention started flooding the media.
Fear of a possible arrest and conviction was defeinitely present. If charged, Israel Adesanya could’ve faced a year in jail and a hefty fine.
But all those fear disappeared as soon as manager Tim Simpson offered a statement to the folks at TMZ Sports: “Israel was handed a gift by a fan, which he put in his luggage.
When flagged at the airport, Israel quickly disposed of the item, and cooperated with authorities. He has complied accordingly, with that the matter was dismissed and he is on his way home.”
Fight
Jon Jones and Israel Adesanya have both traded barbs online in the past. The former light heavyweight champion isn’t one to let an opportunity pass by, and he unsurprisingly took to twitter after Adesanya lost his title to Alex Pereira at UFC 281.
Although it was generally more subtle than some of the vitriol he spewed in the past, he made sure to address some past comments that he didn’t appreciate.
As soon as Adesanya lost by technical knockout, Jones immediately brought up Khabib Nurmagomedov’s previous tweet suggesting Adesanya could eventually be on the same level as him.
On the same event, Jones also reacted to the loss of Dominick Reyes, who many believe deserved to win the close decision in their bout from 2020. After the KO defeat, Jones brought up an old line Reyes said about him.