Israel Adesanya appeared to be involved in a road rage incident after video emerged of the UFC superstar allegedly spitting towards a fellow driver.
Adesanya, 35, is understood to be back home in New Zealand after suffering defeat in his comeback fight against Dricus du Plessis at UFC 305 in Perth last month.
The Last Stylebender missed out on the chance of reclaiming his middleweight world title and cast doubt over his future in the Octagon following the fight, which he lost by submission.
And three weeks on from the fight, footage appearing to show Adesanya in an altercation with a member of the public has circulated on social media.
Adesanya can be seen stood beside his all black McLaren, with a personalised number plate reading ‘KURAMA’, as he exchanged words with a shorter individual wearing a hoodie and shorts.
The fighter can be heard telling the other man to ‘f*** off’ before opening the driver side door of the supercar.
Israel Adesanya was involved in an apparent road rage incident in New Zealand
The UFC superstar recently lost his world title fight against Dricus du Plessis
The Last Stylebender has cast doubt over his future in the Octagon
He then tells his fellow road user to ‘walk away’ and ‘go drive your beat up piece of s***’, referring to the other man’s car, before calling him a ‘f***ing b***h’ while the man flexes his biceps in front of him.
Adesanya then gestures the middle finger at the member of the public and says ‘fight me, I pray for you to try me’ before spitting towards the feet of the man before slamming the door of his car.
The filmer of the footage, who appears to be sat in a nearby car, drives off as Adesanya closes the car door, so it remains unclear as to what happened next.
It is not known when the apparent incident occurred.
Earlier this year, Adesanya escaped conviction after facing court over a drink driving court, having admitted to an incident of driving under the influence of alcohol in August 2023.
The New Zealander was stopped in Auckland by police while driving his Bentley just before midnight. Officers noted that he had shown signs of having been drinking and he told them he had drunk two cocktails with friends.
Adesanya – the former UFC middleweight champion – showed blood alcohol levels of 87 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood.
In New Zealand, the legal limit for drivers over 20 years of age is 50 milligrams per 100 millilitres of blood.
His reading of 87mg put him at risk of a maximum jail term of three months, or a fine not exceeding $4500.
But according to Stuff, Adesanya’s lawyer, Karl Trotter, begged the judge not to send his client to jail, arguing that sponsorship contracts potentially worth hundreds of thousands of dollars were at stake for the fighter who has taken a short hiatus from MMA.
‘So that’s the ballpark we are in,’ said Trotter, who chose not to name any of these potential sponsors.
