Former UFC middleweight champion Israel
Adesanya has pleaded guilty to drinking and driving a few weeks
before his most recent fight.
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According to a report from the
NZ Herald, Adesanya was charged with driving a car in Auckland,
New Zealand, with 87 milligrams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of
blood on Aug. 19. The legal limit in the country is 50
milligrams.
“I want to apologize to the community, my family and my team for
the decision I made to get behind the wheel after drinking at
dinner,” Adesanya said in a statement provided to the Herald.“I was
pulled over and gave an evidentiary blood test — the reading was 87
milligrams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood.
“I am disappointed with my decision to drive, It was wrong,” he
added. “I know that people might follow me and I want them to know
I do not think this behavior is acceptable.”
Adesanya is due for sentencing on Jan. 10. The maximum penalty for
the charge is three months in prison or a $4,500 fine. The
fighter’s lawyer, Jim Trotter, said that he would seek a discharge
without conviction at the sentencing.
Adesanya relinquished his middleweight belt to Sean
Strickland in one of the year’s biggest upsets at UFC 293 in
Sydney on Sept. 9. He gave his
first interview since that defeat on his YouTube channel last
week, revealing that the loss “felt like a bad dream.”