Israel Adesanya: Becoming World Champion Was The Lowest Day Of My Life!

Moving from Nigeria to New Zealand, Adesanya went from feeling normal to being racially targeted and socially isolated. To survive, he tried to fit in, avoided conflict, altered how he spoke, and did things he didn’t want to just to be accepted. He later realized this became a deep people‑pleasing pattern that followed him into adulthood, and only years of self‑reflection and therapy helped him start spotting and stopping it in real time.

After his spectacular UFC debut and six‑figure payday, Adesanya found himself unexpectedly sad and empty once the cameras were gone. He likens the UFC spotlight to a caffeine high followed by a crash. Recognizing this as dangerous, he turned to therapy, books like Charlamagne’s *Shook Ones*, and deliberate self‑talk in the mirror to process emotions and normalize the post‑high slump instead of letting it consume him.

When he bought a McLaren after beating Robert Whittaker, negative comments from someone close (“more deserving people at the gym”) sank in so deeply he parked the car for a week, feeling like a fraud. By unpacking this, he separated others’ opinions from his own reality: no one could deny he *earned* everything through his results, regardless of whether they felt he ‘deserved’ it. That shift allowed him to enjoy his success instead of being ashamed of it.

Adesanya treats mental health like physical health: if you don’t maintain it, you’ll eventually get sick. He uses therapy to reverse‑engineer behaviors back to childhood trauma, and uses mirror conversations to ‘humanize’ himself, challenge negative inner dialogue, and keep perspective during highs and lows. He believes fighters and entertainers should normalize therapy the same way they normalize strength and conditioning.

He argues that young men, flooded with hormones and unresolved emotions, need structured, physical outlets to avoid destructive behavior. Martial arts, lifting, and grappling with teammates give him a ‘primal’ release that civilizes his mind while making ‘savage’ use of his body. He believes gyms and combat sports could substantially improve male mental health and reduce self‑destructive behaviors if more widely encouraged.