Former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya has avoided a conviction for a drunk driving incident last August, according to a report from the New Zealand Herald.
During a hearing in Auckland, New Zealand, Judge Peter Winter ordered Adesanya to donate $1,500 to charity, refrain from driving for six months and enroll in a stop drunk driving program before the end of the year.
“I’m sure you have learned from this,” Winter told Adesanya in court. “You would not want to be placed in this position again, as you realize.”
Adesanya was charged with driving a car in Auckland on Aug. 19 with 87 milligrams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood. The legal limit in the country is 50 milligrams. The UFC star faced a maximum penalty of three months in prison or a $4,500 fine.
Adesanya was granted a discharge without conviction when his lawyer, Karl Trotter, argued that such charges could seriously affect the end of his client’s fighting career. This included a presentation demonstrating that Adesanya could lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in endorsements if convicted. Adesanya is also expected to appear at UFC 297 in Toronto for promotional purposes.
“The adverse consequences should my client be convicted are monumental — that’s not exaggerating the situation,” Trotter said. “He realizes he is in jeopardy.”
Police prosecutor Samara Wakefield opposed the discharge without conviction, downplaying the potential consequences for Adesanya as “speculative at best,” according to the report. Ultimately, the court sided with Adesanya’s team, as Judge Winter agreed that the fighter’s “career window in this sport is limited in duration.”
Adesanya issued a thank you to the judge at the conclusion of the hearing. The incident occurred a few weeks prior to his last title defense at UFC 293, where he suffered an upset loss to Sean Strickland. While “The Last Stylebender” initially claimed that he planned to take an extended hiatus from the sport, he has since stated that he plans to return to action sometime in 2024.
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