Israel Adesanya, a former middleweight champion of the UFC, is said to have been arrested for allegedly bringing brass knuckles into New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport.
The 33-year-old, who fought Saturday in New York and lost his title to Alex Pereira through a technical knockout, was placed under arrest by Port Authority police in the American Airlines terminal on Wednesday.
He was arrested, according to a Port Authority spokeswoman who told DailyMail that he was charged with having “metal knuckles.”
Despite attempts by MandyNews.com to contact UFC spokespersons, none of them responded to demands for comment right away.
In New York, having brass knuckles is a class A felony, and having them on an airline is prohibited. Where Adesanya reportedly kept the weapon is unknown.
Adesanya was born in Lagos, Nigeria, and now resides in Auckland as a citizen of New Zealand.
Pereira won the UFC middleweight championship on Saturday following a dramatic TKO stoppage late in the fight between longstanding rivals Adesanya and Pereira.
Firas Zahabi, a Canadian fighter and trainer, maintains that Adesanya should be “grateful” for the decision in the face of accusations that referee Marc Goddard hastily called the fight to an end.
According to Tim Simpson during an interview with TMZ, Israel Adesanya’s manager, “Israel was given a gift by a fan, which he put in his suitcase.”
