China's desire for a martial arts champion to represent it on the international stage may finally be realized with the impressive UFC debut of Israel Adesanya last week in Perth, Australia.
Adesanya's "electrifying" second-round TKO over Rob Wilkinson was so impressive that he was awarded "Performance of the Night". And yet, as dominant as his victory was, it's not one that China can claim for itself.
Born in Nigeria and a citizen of New Zealand, Adesanya is not a citizen or resident of China, nor is he Chinese or even speaks Chinese. And yet, the hot new UFC prospect had given Chinese fight fans lots to cheer about when he fought under the Chinese flag during his tenure with the Wulinfeng fight promotion.
As far back as 2012, Adesanya has been coming over to China to participate in kickboxing and mixed martial arts competitions in which he was represented by the Nigerian flag (shown below).
However, Adesanya ditched the flag of his birthplace in favor of the Chinese flag when he signed with the Wulinfeng and Glory of Heroes Chinese fight promotions.
Rebranded with the Chinese name "Black Dragon" (黑龍 hēilóng), Adesanya exclusively represented China for each of his 2016 fights with Wulinfeng where he hoisted the Chinese flag during his walkouts and victory announcements. And to make his loyalty to the Celestial Kingdom complete and everlasting, Adesanya was introduced to Chinese fans as by ring announcers as having: "Black skin, Chinese heart" (黑皮膚，中國心 hēi pífū, zhōngguó xīn).
Although he doesn't speak Chinese, Adesanya tried to win over Chinese fans by appealing to their nationalist sensitivities. In a Wulinfeng promotional video (watch below), Adesanya confesses his profound love for his new home.
"I've embraced the Chinese culture, I feel as though it is destiny," said Adesanya, who described his acceptance into Wulinfeng as "my life, my destiny."
Because of expressing his gratitude and love for China and its people, Adesanya revealed that China featured prominently in his future plans. "I want to stay here eventually, buy a house here because being here, my dreams and my destiny are realized one step at a time," said Adesanya.
As China does not recognize dual citizenship, it could be that Adesanya changed his citizenship to Chinese during the time he spent in China instead of the alternative of being a foreign national that put China's flag ahead of his own. But, even if Adesanya's Chinese citizenship was never tied up with bureaucratic delays, it was just not meant to be.
Just two months after his last fight with Wulinfeng, Adesanya signed to competing fight promotion Glory in October 2016. And, instead of a Chinese flag, Adesanya draped himself with a New Zealand one:
And with his recent signing with the UFC, Adesanya's allegiance to China looks to be long gone. Adesanya is seen proudly hoisting the flag of New Zealand while wearing his new UFC outfit while his ring appearance introduces Nigeria as his birthplace.
Even though some Chinese netizens described Adesanya's multiple loyalties as "disgusting," Adesanya is still fondly remembered in China as having "black skin, Chinese heart" while others attribute his success to the kung fu training he received in China.
Even with all of these divided loyalties, it could be that Adesanya is China's best chance of having its "own" champion.
Shortlisted as a rising Chinese star, Beijing's own Li Jingliang also appeared at the same UFC event as Adesanya. However, Li managed to derail much of his own fan hype with a lopsided defeat to Jake Mathews that featured an egregious eye gouge.
At the end of the day, Adesanya is an exciting fighter with impressive moves with a knack for winning. That alone wasn't enough to market Adesanya to Chinese fans during his time in Wulinfeng, but Chinese fans shouldn't need to preoccupy themselves with whichever flag Adesanya is currently flying.
After all, it's what's inside that counts.
Images: EastDay.com, Hula8.net, QQ Video (v.qq.com), Bilibili.com
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