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Before he was a UFC champion, Israel Adesanya ran through three fighters in one night — three separate times.
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King in the Ring was the name of the kickboxing tournament, held in New Zealand, and on two previous occasions Adesanya had won the crown as a cruiserweight.
Although the third time was a little different. This tournament, in October of 2015, was at heavyweight. But still, Adesanya entered despite giving up a significant weight advantage.
Again, he was left the last man standing. Another three wins in a single day. Two more knockouts.
Shaun Johnson, then just four years into his NRL career, still remembers those early days before Adesanya became a household name. Before he took that knockout power to the UFC.
“He was just knocking those dudes out… it was crazy some of the stuff,” Johnson told foxsports.com.au.
Johnson, who retired from the NRL at the end of last season after 14 years with the Warriors and Sharks, is far from a fighter himself.
“There’s definitely not one ounce in me where it’s like I’m a scrapper,” he laughed.
“I definitely don’t have that in me.”
But what he does have is a deep appreciation for what it takes to make it as a UFC fighter, let alone get to the mountaintop and stay there for the better part of four years as was the case with Adesanya during his reign as middleweight champion.
A reign which started at UFC 243 and in front of a UFC-record 57,127 fans at Marvel Stadium. Johnson remembers that day well.
“Because I was a big Whittaker fan from the Ultimate Fighter,” he said.
“To see Whittaker go about how he built his career, he was just savage, right? He is so explosive.
“When I saw Izzy on that stage with Whittaker at a sold-out Marvel, he did that entrance where he was just changing the game. He danced his way in with a bit of a crew, he had this level of self-belief and swag about him.”
It wasn’t just for show either. It was confidence personified. It was everything Adesanya had always told himself and later told teammate Dan Hooker, who was fighting on the co-main event of that UFC 247 card.
“He’s got this insane belief in himself, and this insane vision in his head, and it’s just going all to plan,” Hooker told foxsports.com.au at the time.
“Like, he’s been chatting shit as long I’ve known him, that he’s going to do this and do this. You got back to his first social media post where he’s saying like, ‘Yeah, I’m going to take over the world and be world champ and have stadium shows’.
“He’s been chatting that shit before he even had a pro MMA fight. So just to see it now come to fruition is ridiculous … It’s crazy.”
Shaun Johnson is a big UFC fan. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)Source: Getty ImagesCrazy is one way to put it. Holy crap is another, and that TKO win in Melbourne — that left hand that sent a “savage” fighter like Whittaker crashing to the canvas, was Johnson’s “holy crap” UFC moment.
“You just see him in the cage with someone that you already knew of like a Whittaker I was like, ‘Holy crap man. This is a cool moment, like a really cool moment’, just for sports fans,” Johnson said.
“If you don’t appreciate that then I’m like, ‘What’s wrong with you?’ That’s an elite moment that I feel like, for me, stands out in my mind where Izzy is the guy now.”
Israel Adesanya after being crowned champion. (AAP Image/Michael Dodge)Source: AAPAnd even if Izzy isn’t the guy anymore, it doesn’t matter. Because for Johnson, Adesanya’s legacy in the sport extends far beyond what ‘The Stylebender’ did inside the octagon.
“I feel like UFC at the time down in New Zealand was somewhat frowned upon,” the former NRL halfback said.
“It wasn’t a sport that was backed by many governing bodies down here or given the time by many news outlets, it just wasn’t getting too much media coverage. I feel like Izzy sort of trailblazed that.
“He sort of put the nation on his back and other fighters that were on the rise too and gave them that exposure and I just really respected that he just stood by what he believed in.”
Less than a year later at UFC 253, Adesanya headlined a fight card which featured four New Zealand-based fighters — just the second time that had happened in the promotion’s history.
Kai Kara-France, who Johnson came to know particularly well after he started working with the Warriors as a wrestling coach in 2023, fought on the main card.
Both Kara-France and Adesanya, meanwhile, were on hand to present a commemorative photo to Johnson at the end of his 200th game for the Warriors in July 2023.
Israel Adesanya congratulates Shaun Johnson.Source: Supplied
Shaun Johnson with the photo frame.Source: SuppliedIt was obvious when listening to him that Johnson, a student and deep thinker of the game and sport in general, had been able to draw at least some level of inspiration from the plight of New Zealand’s UFC fighters.
But actually applying those lessons on the rugby league field?
“I don’t want to say that it’s the same as what they’ve been through because I genuinely don’t know what it’s like to be in their shoes deep in the fifth round with a world championship on the line,” Johnson said.
“I don’t know that what that feels like.
“But I do know what it feels like to be in a situation where everyone is looking at you to deliver. I feel like I can talk to that. If you put it as simple as that then there are some parallels there, right?
“Like you can take some inspiration from how Izzy addressed the fifth round against (Kelvin) Gastelum. You can take moments even in Kai’s recent fights where they just go after the result.
“They’re not waiting. They are forward-thinking, they are in attack mode. They don’t freeze man. They go after it.
“And throughout my career, there were definitely moments where I got that wrong. I didn’t take. I just waited and froze at times.
“But when I did get it right, it was certainly that mindset of I’m going after it here and I’m happy to live with the result either way.”
Shaun Johnson tried to go after the game more. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)Source: Getty ImagesNow that Johnson has retired from rugby league, he has more time to sit back at home and watch the UFC on Sundays, although he is yet to see a card in person.
But that is about to change, with Fox League talent and UFC superfan Johnson jetting off to Miami on Monday morning.
Johnson already went on a behind-the-scenes tour through the UFC Apex late last year as part of the Warriors’ preparations to kick off the new NRL season in Vegas, where UFC Hall of Famer Forrest Griffin taught him a few techniques.
Johnson then returned the favour by throwing the footy around with Merab Dvalishvili, although he admitted the UFC’s bantamweight champion was able to put “some steps” on him.
Shaun Johnson meets Merab Dvalishvili.Source: SuppliedAnd in a lot of ways, even as someone who has quickly developed such a deep appreciation for the sport itself, those moments spent getting to know the person behind the fighter were the most memorable for Johnson.
“That’s the real cool part,” he said.
“We can idolise and we can posterise these guys all we like but at the end of the day, they are human and they’ve all got a story and I think being able to connect with him on that level, making it just real personable, I think that’s special.
“Hopefully I can do a little bit of that over in Miami when I meet some of these fighters too.”
