Ahead of the biggest fight of his MMA career, Israel Adesanya has a new management team.
The UFC’s interim middleweight champion has signed with Paradigm Sports Management, the company announced Monday.
Adesanya (17-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) is set to headline UFC 243 on Oct. 5 at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Australia, against middleweight champion Robert Whittaker (20-4 MMA, 11-2 UFC) in a title unification bout. It is being dubbed as the biggest fight in Australia’s history.
Adesanya joins the likes of Conor McGregor, Cris Cyborg, Leon Edwards and Michael “Venom” Page as top talent signed to Paradigm.
“After having a great relationship with Israel and team for some time, we are excited to welcome him to the Paradigm family,” stated Tim Simpson, head of Paradigm’s MMA division. “Israel is recognized worldwide as one of the brightest prospects in all of sports, and his athletic achievements thus far speak for themselves.
“We are eager to get to work with Israel in all facets of his business, alongside his existing team in Eugene Bareman from City Kickboxing, and Ash Belcastro from Engage. Israel is an incredible personality and an even better athlete, and we look forward to more big fights and success in all aspects of his career going forward, beginning on October 5 at UFC 243.”
After winning the first 11 fights of his MMA career by stoppage, Adesanya, from New Zealand, is a perfect 6-0 in the UFC and has post-fight bonuses in five of those six wins. Four of his UFC wins have gone the distance, including victories over former longtime middleweight champ Anderson Silva in February and Kelvin Gastelum in April for the interim belt.
