Israel Adesanya admits he once 'busted a nut' to make weight

Israel Adesanya has admitted that he once 'busted a nut' in order to make weight for a fight.

And yes, busted a nut means to ejaculate.

While us fans definitely don't have the minerals to step foot inside an octagon, we're probably all aware that half the fight actually takes place before the cage doors slam shut.

Weight-cutting, however dangerous it may be, is a crucial part of combat sports and athletes push their bodies to the max in order to compete.

We've heard horror stories of fighters cutting insane amounts of weight to the point where their bodies are shutting down on them.

And it seems Adesanya once went to extreme, and rather unique, lengths in a bid to shed those last few pounds.

During a conversation with Bleacher Report's Taylor Rooks, the UFC middleweight champion was asked about the craziest thing he's done to make weight in the past.

In the clip, you can see that Izzy knew exactly what answer he was going to give straight away, but was reluctant to say it due to the nature of it.

Umming and ahing, he hesitated as he worked out the most polite way of explaining it.

But with a nudge from the host, he was swayed into sharing his weight-cutting technique.

Blushing and hiding his head under his jumper, he said: "Back in kickboxing, when I was an amateur, I did not have a fight dietitian and I was not in the UFC.

"Ahhh, f**k man. OK, how do I put this? I busted a nut to make weight."

Both Adesanya and Rooks then burst out laughing.

"How much does that weigh?" Rooks then asked.

To which Izzy jokingly replied: "You really want to know? A few grams came off. I made weight."

Rooks herself, probably still traumatised from the story, posted about it on Twitter.

"One thing about this job… you never know what you’re going to hear lmao," she said.

"Asked Israel Adesanya the craziest thing he had to do to cut weight. We weren’t... expecting the response."

Her tweet instantly started racking up thousands of likes online.

As for Adesanya's upcoming fight against age-old foe Alex Pereira at UFC 281, he admits he was surprised the Brazilian wasn't the betting favourite, especially given their past bouts.

“I like (the pressure) on me,” Adesanya told reporters at the pre-fight press conference.

“I like it on me in this one. I saw last night, I’m like, ‘Why am I the favorite in this on the betting odds?’ I never check them but I just happened to see something on Instagram and I was like, ‘How the f*ck am I the favorite?’ I feel like we should change that. How do we change that or something, fake an injury? I don’t know. We’ll see. I think we should bet on him this fight. Yeah, we’ll just see what happens.”

Featured Image Credit: Twitter/@TaylorRooks/YouTube/Bleacher Report

Topics: Australia, New Zealand, MMA, UFC, Israel Adesanya

Max Sherry

Max Sherry is a journalist for SPORTbible Australia. After migrating Down Under from London as a teenager, he instantly fell in love with Aussie sport and its culture. From NRL to AFL, cricket to rugby — you name it, Max watches it (with a beer in hand, of course). During his time at Fox Sports, he worked in the football department covering the Premier League, A-League, Socceroos and Matildas. Born a stone's throw away from West Ham's training ground, Max is obviously a die-hard Liverpool fan.

@maxysherry