Eschewing the Social Contract: The Beautiful, Awful Joy of Israel Adesanya

A New Champion in Crowned at UFC 287

The end came with a clubbering right hand to the temple. Then another. A hammer fist was the coup-de-grace, the final blow before the celebration began.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way.

Alex Pereira, the UFC middleweight champion and kickboxing god, had been styling. Doing everything right. This was just his ninth UFC fight, but you’d have never guessed it the way he maintained his calm, standing upright, fearless, against an opponent who has only known defeat to one man in the middleweight division.

Him.

In the second round Pereira had caught his rival Israel Adesanya with knee to the head and a series of furious, ferocious, obscene body shots, every one of his 185 pounds thrown into each blow. It looked like the beginning of the end.

In space, Adesanya had his moments, scoring with body kicks and tactical, precise right hands. But the moment he paused, the monster inside of Pereira awakened. As the Brazilian stalked forward, Izzy found himself backing steadily towards the Octagon wall and the inevitable red wave that would surely follow.

With every step backwards danger signs flashed in front of the eyes of both his devoted fans and haters alike. Everyone, seemingly, but the former champion himself knew this was no-man’s land. Knew only one result could come of it.

And, yet, just like the first fight, he found himself there again and again. But this wasn’t the first fight. Adesanya only wanted the world to think it was.

“Don't throw me in the briar patch.”

Safely right where his opponent wanted him, he was able to emerge from his feigned helplessness and unleash a stinging blow of his own—knocking Pereira to the ground and slaying his own demons with the same shocking right hand.

There was a time when what followed would have been beyond the pale. In the olden times, when mixed martial arts was trying desperately to get back on pay-per-view and back in the good graces of right wing politicians, a crass celebration over the fallen body of another fighter was strictly verboten.

These were martial artists. Dignified. Defenders of fair play. This wasn’t violence. It was sport. See?

Sure, Tito Ortiz was the notable distinction to this rule, but it was widely agreed he was an asshole and his grave digger routine was often met with boos.

Now?

The right wing politicians are being feted by millionaire fighters in the cage while the billionaire owners continue to take home 80 percent of the revenue. In this world, I suppose, anything goes.

And, so, Adesanya stood over his opponent, still separated from his senses, and fired three imaginary arrows—perhaps one for each time he’d been on the wrong end of a Pereira victory? He then walked across the cage and took a fall to the mat, feigning unconsciousness, a callback to Pereira’s son mocking him in similar fashion years ago. It was, in all, quite a thing to behold, pettiness on a level you can’t help but secretly admire. All in all, it was a tremendous night for the UFC. They made a boatload of money, featured half a dozen fantastic fights and crowned one of their most popular fighters champion once again.

Adesanya followed up his complete and utter disregard for his opponent’s dignity (and his own) with one of the most beautiful speeches in the history of the sport. Click on the link and watch it for yourself. The transcript below doesn’t quite do it justice.

“I hope all of you can feel how fucking happy I am just one time in your life,” Adesanya said. “But guess what? You’ll never feel this level of happiness if you don’t go for something in your own life. When they knock you down, when they try and shit on you, when they talk shit about you and they try to put their foot on your neck, if you stay down, you will never ever get that resolved. Fortify your mind and feel this level of happiness as you rise one time in your life. But I’m blessed to be able to feel this shit again, and again and again and again and again.”

How’s that for the duality of man?

-Jonathan Snowden

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