“They were sticking their arms through the bars just trying to just touch the belt, touch me, say, ‘What’s up,’ and it just made me feel blessed."
After hearing “and new,” a freshly minted champion experiences many emotional moments, from the affirmation of accomplishing their ultimate goal to bringing the title belt back to their friends and family. Israel Adesanya experienced that when he defeated Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 236 and secured the interim middleweight belt.
“The Last Stylebender” wore his emotions in the Octagon that night, but the experience of bringing his belt back to his home country washed over him in a different way.