Israel Adesanya Backs NBA Players Protesting Shooting of Jacob Blake

Israel Adesanya has supported the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States and in his home country of New Zealand, and recently he commented on NBA players electing to not play games, following the police shooting of Jacob Blake.

Adesanya wants to see “change”

The UFC’s middleweight champ recently spoke with Luke Thomas, ahead of his September 26th bout with Paul Costa. While discussing the recent decision of many athletes to not participate in games, on account of the police shooting of Blake, Adesanya said this (quotes via MMA Junkie).

“If the NBA walks out, if they (explicit) their money up, that’s the owners’ money and the shareholders and whatever – so good.

If that’s what it takes to bring change, then good.”

“I’m finding my own way to change the world around me, but I’m doing that away from the media,” Adesanya said.

“I’m trying to respond, not react. But I feel like that’s what they want. They want us to react.

They want us to point the finger – blame each other, this side vs. this side. ‘My God is better than your God.’ ‘My race is better than your race.’ ‘My people are better than your people.’

And while discussing Blue Lives Matter, and Adesanya’s own reaction to the latest shooting incident, he relayed the following.

“Like, what the (explicit) is Blue Lives Matter? You choose to be a cop. You don’t choose to be Black. It’s a privilege to be Black.

Bottom line, I choose to respond, not to react, so I’m taking my time because it just happened. But good on the players in the NBA for doing so. I commend them for that.”

Adesanya spoke out at Black Lives Matter protest

This past summer, following the tragic death of George Floyd, an emotional Adesanya spoke at a Black Lives Matter rally in Auckland, New Zealand.