Israel Adesanya has been signed by the UFC and will make his promotional debut at UFC 221 in Perth on February 11.
It was not a matter of if, but when the Nigerian born-New Zealander would finally be signed to the organisation.
Adesanya has torn through the local Australasian scene, compiling an 11-0 record with 11 knockouts and collecting the AFC and Hex middleweight titles along the way. Adesanya also holds a 50-5 professional kickboxing record and had competed for the Glory middleweight title.
Adesanya will meet Australian Rob Wilkinson who also previously held the AFC middleweight title as well as the Brace middleweight title. Wilkinson finished 10 of his first 11 opponents before finally suffering his first career defeat when he made his debut in the UFC last September.
Today’s announcement was made via Fox Sport Australia’s UFC Fight Week.
UFC 221 will take place at the Perth Arena in Western Australia and is headlined by UFC middleweight title holder Robert Whittaker defending his belt against Luke Rockhold.
Fight Card:
- Robert Whittaker (c) vs. Luke Rockhold – UFC middleweight title fight
- Curtis Blaydes vs. Mark Hunt
- Tyson Pedro vs. Saparbek Safarov
- Jussier Formiga vs. Ben Nguyen
- Damian Brown vs. Dong Hyun Kim
- Cyril Asker vs. Tai Tuivasa
- Alex Volkanovski vs. Jeremy Kennedy
- Teruto Ishihara vs. Jose Quinonez
- Mizuto Hirota vs. Ross Pearson
- Israel Adesanya vs. Rob Wilkinson
