Israel Adesanya has confirmed he will be joining his City Kickboxing teammates in relocating from New Zealand to America.
Last week, the UFC middleweight let rip at his home nation for their strict lockdown rules that have prevented him, Dan Hooker, and other New Zealand based fighters from being able to properly train.
‘Stylebender’ revealed he will never fight in New Zealand again after City Kickboxing’s makeshift bubble was disbanded by police, forcing Hooker to train at home for his UFC 266 fight with Nasrat Hasquarat.
“You will never see me fight in New Zealand ever again,” Adesanya said in a video posted to his YouTube channel. “All that money, they can get it from somewhere else. Their rugbys, their crickets and all the others they’re giving exemptions to, but you will never ever see me fight on these shores [again]. That was one of my dreams, to headline a stadium in my backyard. That dream’s dead in the water … that’s just the way I feel right now.”
In the build-up and after his UFC 266 win over Hasquarat, Hooker suggested that he and the City Kickboxing team will be relocating to the U.S. in the near future.
On Sunday, Adesanya took to social media to confirm he’s heading stateside.
“Cats out the bag… I’m moving to America 
,” Adesanya wrote. “When faced with obstacles, we adapt and overcome. I’m 32 and applying pressure like J Cole before I’m out the game. We built this legacy at @citykickboxing ourselves and the support of the people. No govt handouts or backing and became the number one winning gym on earth! Four walls and a roof don’t make a martial arts gym. The people who toil day in and day out make it what it is. So wherever those four walls and a roof is located, it’ll still be City Kickboxing!!”
Do you think Israel Adesanya is making the right call by relocating to the U.S?