Israel Adesanya opens up about leaving City Kickboxing after 16 years, talks MMA future

Israel Adesanya has announced his departure from Auckland's City Kickboxing (CKB) gym, a place he trained at for around 16 years. The Nigerian-born New Zealand MMA legend also expounded upon the reasons behind his exit. 

The Kiwi athlete made the significant announcement just days before his 37th birthday, which comes later this month, by posting a video to his official YouTube channel. 

Israel Adesanya recently trained with longtime rival Robert Whittaker at the City Kickboxing gym

Israel Adesanya boasts the distinction of being one of the rare athletes who've achieved success at the elite level in more than one combat sport. He won several accolades in kickboxing, tried his hand at boxing, and later forged an extraordinary legacy in MMA as a UFC icon. 

The former UFC middleweight champion boasts victories over fearsome fighters such as Yoel Romero and Robert Whittaker, the latter of whom he's beaten twice. 

Incidentally, Whittaker, who'll make his light heavyweight debut at UFC 329, has lately spent a considerable amount of time training at the City Kickboxing gym, even working out with Adesanya. 

Former UFC middleweight kingpin Israel Adesanya talks about his exit from CKB

In a video posted to his YouTube channel a few hours ago, Israel Adesanya touched upon various topics, including this weekend's UFC 329 card that'll be headlined by Conor McGregor and Max Holloway. 

Adesanya commenced the video with the announcement of his departure from the CKB gym. The 36-year-old noted that he had a conversation about his CKB exit with his longtime head coach and CKB founder Eugene Bareman. 

Adesanya stated, "So, Wednesday, 20th May (2026), I spoke to Eugene (Bareman) face to face, and I told him I am not coming back to CKB. This was something a long time coming, behind the scenes, and we have an understanding. Um, yeah. I won't lie. It s*cks; not anymore." 

Also, Adesanya indicated that different people grieve a loss/departure, alluding to his CKB exit, differently, and that grief comes to him in waves. "Izzy" implied that some days are great, while others are tough. 

Regardless, he reiterated that it was a long time in the making, and he wanted everyone to hear the news of his departure from the gym directly from him. 

As of this time, there's an air of mystery surrounding Adesanya's next fight, as to when and against whom he'll return to the UFC's famed octagon. The striking savant, who's on a four-fight losing streak, insinuated that staying at CKB was unlikely to have helped him return to his winning ways.

Signaling that his decision to train elsewhere would be the right move for his MMA future, Adesanya said: 

"It's bittersweet. But it's the right thing for me. You know? Especially where I'm at in my career. It's exactly what I needed. Insanity is doing the same sh** and expecting a different result." 

Moreover, "The Last Stylebender" asserted that he doesn't want to talk about it too much and would prefer grieving in peace. He recounted training at CKB for the first time in 2009 and moving to Auckland to train there in 2010. 

Adesanya pointed out that CKB helped him become the fighter he is, alluding to his long and storied journey of becoming a combat sports megastar while training at the gym. He, simultaneously, highlighted that his work helped put CKB on the world map as a renowned combat sports training gym. 

Furthermore, Adesanya suggested that he currently needs a training camp focused on himself rather than training at a gym like CKB that's become too large an entity to provide him the requisite individual focus. He said: 

"What I need for myself is focused, individual training. So I've made the decision to leave CKB for my own reasons. And yeah, I'll leave it at that." 

Watch Israel Adesanya discuss his leaving CKB below: