Israel Adesanya knows what he said was wrong. The UFC middleweight champion issued an apology on his Instagram page about the comment he made while talking trash to his upcoming opponent Yoel Romero. During the UFC 248 pre-fight press conference, Adesanya made a comment about the Twin Towers collapsing during the 9/11 attacks when he was asked about the match.
“He’s human like anyone else, and everyone likes to make this myth about, ‘Oh, he’s steel, like kicking steel,’ or you hit him and he doesn’t fall,” Adesanya said per MMAFighting.com. “I’ll touch him enough times.
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“I’ll touch him enough times and eventually he’ll crumble like the Twin Towers.”
Adesanya’s comment didn’t sit well with social media and he quickly apologized.
“I never made a joke about people dying or made light of the tragic event that was 9/11,” Adesanya wrote on Instagram. “I was simply rambling and my brain worked faster than my mouth in a moment to chose the wrong euphemism. You speak on the mic enough times and you’re bound to miss the mark with some bars.
“I did on this one and for that I’m sorry. I’ll be more careful in future with my words.”
Before Adesanya apologized, middleweight contender, Paulo Costa, went to Instagram to lash out at the champion.
“Adesanya, you are a disgusting piece of s—t,” Costa wrote. “How dare you make a joke disrespecting the thousands who died and the heroic firefighters and police.
“I will really kill you, dirty kiwi.”
Adesanya is one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in UFC as he has an 18-0 record in MMA action. Before Adesanya unified the middleweight titles last year, UFC President Dana White talked about what makes him dangerous in the octagon.
“He’s a technical striker,” White said of Adesanya per Stuff. “His kicks and his punches are unbelievable, he can stay on the outside and pick people apart. His speed, his fight IQ. The fact that this guy is in this sport undefeated, [with] 17 wins, 13 wins by knockout, that speaks for itself.”
White went on to say that Adesanya has what it takes to be a star in UFC.
“I think that the kid is very entertaining. He’s a dancer, he’s got a great story and he’s a very likeable guy,” White said. “He has that ‘it’ factor, that thing that makes you a star.”
