Israel Adesanya clowned YouTuber Bradley Martyn for clout chasing after Martin tried to challenge him to a boxing fight at a party in 2020.
Adesanya is the No. 12 ranked pound-for-pound fighter in the UFC. He is rebounding after suffering his third career loss against Sean Strickland at UFC 293 on September 10, 2023.
While he’s still taking time off and not promoting an upcoming MMA fight, Adesanya spoke with fellow mixed martial artist Demetrious Johnson in an exclusive interview on April 23. He took the viewing audience through his encounter with Martyn at an after party that Jake Paul held following his debut boxing victory over Nate Robinson.
According to the former two-time UFC middleweight champion, he was met with an unexpected challenge shortly after Paul showed him his backyard boxing ring.
“I meet Jake Paul at the hotel, then he invites me to his house. Get there, crazy. This was during COVID times,” Adesanya began. “He has a ring in the backyard. And, I got word through someone that, ‘oh, this guy is trying to get Izzy in the ring,’ and I said, ‘nah I’m just here to have fun. I ain’t doing none of that. And it was him.” Adesanya claimed before throwing a not-so-subtle sub
“Some people aren’t even man enough to wash the jocks we fight in. They’re not even man enough, or worthy enough to step in the ring or in the cage with us, cause, you’re about that life. And when they ‘Oh, how would I fare? How would I?’ stop.”
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The New Zealander did not take kindly to Martyn’s challenge but that didn’t matter to the 34-year-old influencer when he caught wind of Adesanya’s slight. He took to X and pulled up receipts showing a friendly DM he sent to the MMA superstar on the same early morning after Paul’s fight.
Adesanya responded the way most pro athletes do when challenged by non-professionals in his dig at Martyn. Nevertheless, Martyn’s message to the UFC star shows that perhaps the exchange may have gone down differently than the latter described.
The two have no prior beef with one another. However, Martin became infamous for calling out MMA fighters, citing his bodybuilding physique and weight advantage as being too much for smaller fighters to handle in a street fight.
He spoke on his viral challenge of Johnson back in 2023, which is partly why the ONE flyweight champion brought his name up in his talk with Adesanya. Martin has been taken up on other challenges by lesser known athletes, but hasn’t backed up his trash talk. He likely won’t see Adesanya in the cage or ring anytime soon.
