Adesanya reveals City Kickboxing insults steeled him for UFC press conferences

Israel Adesanya has revealed that racist remarks and personal insults directed at him inside City Kickboxing’s gym walls ultimately made him better equipped to handle the combative atmosphere of UFC press conferences.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, the former two-time UFC middleweight champion described what it was like being a Black man growing up in New Zealand and training at CKB, where he says certain members of the gym subjected him to sustained verbal abuse. Rather than letting it break him, Adesanya chose to reframe the experience as preparation for the media circus that surrounds elite MMA.

“You know what it’s like being black in New Zealand? Also, being at CKB, the amount of sh*t that it was…” Adesanya said. “Good practice. I liked it because it was good practice, because I was like, okay, cool, if I can take the amount of insults I get in this gym from these certain people, then I can go to a press conference, or whatever, and shit wouldn’t bother me, and I’d be able to fire back. So, it was good practice, but I’ve got thick skin, and I don’t let anything in, but I’m human.”

Adesanya (24-6) began training at City Kickboxing full-time in 2010 and spent 16 years at the Auckland-based gym before parting ways this past May. He has since relocated to a smaller setup at Unity MMA, where Andrei Paulet serves as his head coach.

The move comes at a difficult point in his career. Adesanya is currently riding a four-fight losing streak — a stark contrast to the dominant run that saw him capture and defend the UFC middleweight title twice. He is scheduled to headline UFC Saudi Arabia on December 5 against unbeaten prospect Sharabutdin Magomedov (17-1), a fight widely viewed as a must-win if Adesanya is to remain a credible contender in the division.

Despite the adversity, Adesanya insists the mental resilience he built during his years at CKB has not left him, even as he acknowledged the limits of that armour. The candid admission that he is still human, beneath the bravado, offers a rare glimpse into the psychological toll of life at the top of combat sports.