UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya has learned a lot from watching Conor McGregor 's rise to stardom.
Now on his own path to greatness, Adesanya has become one of the UFC's biggest stars and most dominant champions on the roster.
'The Last Stylebender' defended his title against Robert Whittaker earlier this month, signing a new contract before the fight which made made him one of the promotion's highest-paid fighters.
Adesanya and McGregor are both managed by Paradigm Sports and 'Notorious' recently congratulated his team member on his recent success.
And Adesanya admitted he has learned a lot from watching McGregor's meteoric rise through the UFC.
"Like I said at the media day for this fight, where I said he [McGregor] changed the game, whether you like it or not," he told All Goats TV.
"I've learned a lot directly and indirectly, even before we knew each other, we became, I guess colleagues.
Just the way he handled not just the fame, but the money side of it. Even his pitfalls, I've learned from them and I know he has too, but I've learned from them, watching that.
"There's a reason you ain't seen me on TMZ yet. I'm smart with the way I operate... I'm smart with people I have around me."
McGregor has been involved in several controversies outside of fighting, with the most recent coming last October when he allegedly punched Italian DJ Francesco Facchinetti.
The month before that, the former-two weight champion got into a spat with rapper Machine Gun Kelly at the MTV awards in which security was forced to break up.
And Adesanya admitted: "Like I said, I'm not perfect. I make mistakes. But I don't want them held against me on the court of public opinion."
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Despite being more than happy with his new contract, the Nigerian-born New Zealander recognises that fighter pay is an issue in the UFC.
Adesanya thinks new fighters in the promotion shouldn't be fighting for $12,000 a fight and is hoping that his new deal will indirectly increase other fighters pay.
"It's going to trickle down. I'm a make sure it trickles down to my team, and then I'm [going] to make sure it trickles down to the other fighters," he added.
"My team [and I] know what we're worth and what we should be fighting for. So I'm glad we got this new deal. This is the beginning of a new change.
"A guy starting his first fight in the UFC should not be fighting for twelve grand or ten grand. They should be fighting to make enough to pay their manager, train full-time, and not have to work a second or third job. That's just embarrassing to the sport."
