UFC Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya is quite the showman in the octagon, from his noteworthy performances to his incredible dance moves, the Champion is not only an MMA fighter as he is also an entertainer.
One of his noteworthy celebrations happened at his UFC debut, where, after making easy work of Rob Wilkinson in the second round, Adesanya pretended to pee on stage to, in his own words, ‘mark his territory’.
In an interview to Submission Radio, the now champion explained this ‘unusual’ celebration:
“I’m the new dog in the yard, and I just pissed all over the place,” Adesanya said.
“Came in the cage, pissed everywhere. I know dogs, when they’re dominant; when a dog walks into a dog park – head high, tail high, and just kinda pees all over the place to mark his territory. And let them know, ‘that’s my spot’. That’s how dogs communicate with body language, so I just pissed all over the place.”
Adesanya had been told that the brass never wanted to see him do it again:
“‘They told my manager that, ‘We handle a lot of sponsors, millions of dollars in sponsors. So for him to pretend to be with his d**k out and shaking it after he pees as well or whatever, it’s not really a good look.’ For me, how I see it is, f**k, what are the sponsors worried about: Me pretending to whip an imaginary d**k out and pee everywhere to mark my territory or just watching me just beat the f**k out of a dude? I don’t know what kind of game these sponsors are playing or whatever, but for me, I just have to make a statement. Any top dog would do it. My stench is still there. Whenever I get back into the cage, I’m sure I’ll smell it.”
But Adsanya hasn’t been entirely sponsor friendly lately – he notably humped Paulo Costa during the finishing sequence of their title fight.
Watch out for the dry hump at the end ?. Israel adesanya is so crazy and bloody. pic.twitter.com/YrAeaaS2ab
— Tiny (@Tinystaysjiggy) September 27, 2020
The UFC has had its’ share of ‘kind of gross’ celebrations in the past.
Way back in the day, Lightweight Champion BJ Penn made it a thing to celebrate his victories by licking the blood off of his hloves:
Or the time Michael Bisping showed little class when he celebrated by spitting in his opponents corner:
For all the new fans that think Izzy was too disrespectful go watch Jorge Riviera vs Michael Bisping. Bisping cheated the whole fight, fence grabs, illegal strikes etc. At the end he walked over and SPIT on the corner men. pic.twitter.com/W5XzknviLU
— Overconfident Rockhold (@malevolence85) September 28, 2020
But of all the gross celebrations in UFC history, the best/worst has to be Tai Tuivasa’s shoey:
? Knockout
? Shoey@bambamtuivasa doing what Tai Tuivasa does at #UFC264 pic.twitter.com/cERJzjlp3A— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) July 11, 2021
Since 2014, Benny A. King has been fully immersed in the world of combat sports. Starting with a blog about Greco Roman wrestling, Benny’s passion for combat sports has led him to explore various disciplines.