UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya has joked that fans hold him ‘hostage’ upon meeting them in public.

Over the course of the last few years, Israel Adesanya has become one of the most popular stars in all of mixed martial arts. The man known as ‘The Last Stylebender’ has been able to blend together his infectious personality with a fantastic fight style in the Octagon, making for quite the finished product.

It doesn’t feel like the 33-year-old is even close to being done, either, as he continues his reign as the king of the middleweights.

His most recent outing against Jared Cannonier at UFC 276 served as the main event of International Fight Week, which should give fans a pretty good idea of how highly the UFC values him.

Of course, Adesanya also has his fair share of critics, with some believing he’s failed to live up to the pre-fight hype he’s given in his last few outings.

Still, whatever you may think about him, there’s no way of denying just how much of a superstar he is - but as per the champ himself, that isn’t always a good thing.

“I used to smile at randoms in public and they’d smile back. Now they just stop me and keep me hostage with their conversations. But with a smile like this, who wouldn’t want to stop me…”

This is likely little more than a joke, but it definitely raises an important question when it comes to whether fans have the ‘right’ to stop some of their favourite fighters and athletes upon seeing them on the street.

The next mission

It feels like a permanent shift up to 205 pounds is almost inevitable for Izzy but at this stage in his career, he’s still aiming to forge a real legacy for himself at 185.

The next challenger, almost certainly, will be Alex Pereira - the man who defeated Adesanya twice when they met back in their kickboxing days.

‘Poatan’ has been incredibly impressive since jumping ship to the UFC, to the point where it’s only taken him three wins to land at the front door of a title shot.