Israel Adesanya's coach joked he had a "near death experience" after the fighter came inches away from kicking him in the head during training.
Carl Van Roon, who runs the Van Roon Martial Arts gym in Auckland, has been working with the UFC middleweight champion ahead of his next world title defence against Jared Cannonier. And in a moment caught on video during a drill, Adesanya comes dangerously close to landing what would be a brutal head kick from behind.
Adesanya is one of the heaviest hitters and more impressive strikers in MMA, and has knocked out three opponents in his cage career with kicks. But he almost added his coach when his foot whizzed by the Kiwi coach and barely missed his head.
In the footage, which Van Roon posted to his gym's Instagram page, Adesanya can be seen throwing the kick while mimicking his trainer's moves, before saying "my bad" after almost dropping him. The UFC star looks terrified, and apologises profusely, before Van Roon jokes "I almost got knocked out" and the pair touch gloves.
Van Roon tagged the post: "Stylebender [Adesanya's nickname] almost knocks me out. It’s always fun training with this guy #closeshave #neardeathexperience #razorsedge #twinning #twinningiswinning."
Adesanya will make his fifth title defence against Cannonier at UFC 276 in Las Vegas on July 2. The No.2-ranked challenger is the last of the top four contenders that he has to fight, after twice defeating both the No.1 Robert Whittaker and No.3 Marvin Vettori.
The Nigerian-born champion fights out of New Zealand, and has never lost at middleweight in his professional career. The one defeat he did take was against Jan Blachowicz last year when, with no emerging contenders in his own division, he attempted to jump up 20lb to light-heavyweight.
He returned to his division with successful title defences against Vettori and Whittaker, both of whom he had already beaten earlier in his UFC career. Adesanya has said that he doesn't even know where his title belt is after winning six bouts with a title on the line if you count his interim fight with. Kelvin Gastellum.
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"The belt is quite heavy," he explained while speaking with Combat TV. "I actually don't know where it is right now. I'm not attached to that thing at all. I know who the f*** I am, I've been a champ before the belt. It's heavy. It doesn't need to be that heavy but I think they made it heavy for the emphasis. So you know you're holding something like, 'Woah, this is something of substance.' It's a cool belt. I like it."
The UFC 276 card will also feature Adesanyaa' City Kickboxing teammate Alexander Volkanovski in his fourth featherweight title defence. He will have a trilogy fight with long-time rival Max Holloway, despite winning their first two match-ups in razor-close decisions.
