Israel Adesanya justifies UFC Africa despite only having one African UFC champion

Despite only having one African UFC champion at the moment, Israel Adesanya believes the 'Three Kings' of Africa are far from finished.

Prior to UFC 278, the UFC had three African champions, namely Kamaru Usman (170lbs), Israel Adesanya (185lbs), and Francis Ngannou (265lbs).

However, 'The Nigerian Nightmare's loss to Leon Edwards at UFC 278 and, most recently, Israel Adesanya's loss to Alex Pereira at UFC 281, has left the promotion with Ngannou as the only African still holding a belt.

Given this situation, the idea of hosting a UFC event in Africa seems a little distant. However, 'The Last Stylebender' is quite confident that the event shall take place nonetheless.

Appearing on a recent episode of The MMA Hour, the former middleweight champion had this to say about UFC Africa:

“No- f*** no... F*** the belt. Come on, man. We’re us. It’s us. What we’ve done is still etched in history forever. There’s moments in history that will never, ever be — also, it’s not over."

'The Last Stylebender' went on:

“But like I said, there’s moments in history that will never be captured again. That will never be replicated again, and I am very proud to say I was part of that. Or, I am part of that, because we’re still writing the book. This ain’t over. Game ain’t over. I thought it was game over, but I guess we put in the coin again and play again.”

Check out Israel Adesanya's interview with The MMA Hour below (quotes at the 41:55 mark):

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UFC might face more issues than just deciding the venue for UFC Africa, according to Israel Adesanya

Dana White revealed at the press conference following UFC 281 that he is very interested in hosting a fight event in the African continent.

However, the UFC president appeared to be stumped about the location of the event. In the same interview with Ariel Helwani, Israel Adesanya claimed that the promotion could face more serious issues than what White surmised.

The Nigerian-born stated that while the people are quite good and generous, the government might pose a problem. The government "can" be corrupt, according to the fighter.

Putting forth his opinion on the matter, the 33-year-old said:

“I love my people, but the government — my people are beautiful people, but the government can be corrupt. Very corrupt. If they see dollar signs, it’ll be, ‘OK, we need this and that.’ I don’t know how all that s*** works, but trust me. Growing up in Nigeria, money talks.”

Check out Adesanya's comments below (40:35 mark):