According to UFC CEO Dana White, Israel Adesanya shouldn’t have driven after drinking. However, White is hoping the former UFC middleweight champion changes his ways after pleading guilty to New Zealand’s equivalent of a DUI.
Tuesday saw White respond to Adesanya’s recent admission of guilt to a DUI arrest. Three weeks prior to Adesanya’s championship defence at UFC 293 against Sean Strickland, he was stopped for a traffic violation and found to be intoxicated. After drinking alcohol at dinner with friends, Adesanya later issued a statement in which he accepted responsibility for his choice to drive home.
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Dana White On Israel Adesanya Drunk Driving Charges
Israel Adesanya of the UFC showed up in the Auckland District Court with his attorney to enter a guilty plea to drunk driving. He apologised and said he regretted choosing to drive after having a few beers.
“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 wrote in his statement.
The UFC fighter was “charged with driving a car on Wellesley St in Auckland Central with 87 milligrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood,” according to the official court paperwork forwarded to the outlet. 50 milligrammes is the permitted maximum. Adenanya will only forfeit $2,680 in fines.
When asked if Adesanya’s legal issues might have contributed to his shocking loss to Strickland earlier this month, White responded in the negative saying “I think that, uh…bad decisions, man, No matter how many drinks you had, if you drink, don’t drive. It’s one thing – Ubering is easy and all this other stuff, but when you have that kind of money that that kid has, get a driver – have somebody drive you, or Uber, or whatever. He made a bad decision, thank god nobody was hurt – him or anybody else.”