Israel Adesanya has gifted his father Femi a new Rolex watch worth £30,000 ahead of his upcoming title defence at UFC 276.
Middleweight champion Adesanya will return to the octagon against Jarod Cannonier on July 2. It will be his second fight after signing a lucrative new contract with the promotion which has made him the second highest-paid fighter on the UFC roster.
'Style Bender' recently turned up at his father's office where he appeared to be working on designing a new house for his son. He handed his father a bag which he opened the box inside revealing the expensive garment. Adesanya Sr reacted in shock turning to his son and uttering: "Wow thank you." Before Adesanya responded: "We are matching."
Adesanya then proceeds to place his own watch alongside his father's where the pair have identical watches. Both pieces are gold Rolex Day-Date 40 watches which are worth around £30,000 each. The 18-carat gold watch was first presented in 1956 and was the first to ever indicate the day of the week.
The UFC star then embraced his father before explaining his reason for purchasing the watch: "He takes all the burden in dealing with all this s*** so I don't have to deal with it." Adesanya has not fought since his rematch victory over Robert Whittaker in February where he was guaranteed a bumper $1 million payday without revenue from pay-per-views.
His wealth has taken a full-circle since first signing with the UFC having admitted he was down to his last $300 before being saved by his debut with the promotion.
The 32-year-old has previously praised his father for his role in managing his wealth. "If I this was about money, I would've bounced," Adesanya said. "I would've done this maybe three fights ago because I'm kind of set. I have one of the smartest men with money behind me and he's helping me flip money the smart way."
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Adesanya has earned a significant fortune since first becoming UFC champion in 2019. After having limited involvement with his finances, the Nigerian later revealed his "jaw dropped" when his father informed him of his net-worth. "I love learning, that's where my pops comes in," he said during an appearance on Mike Tyson's HotBoxin' podcast.
"Just over Christmas I went home, my pops is the guy is behind the scenes helping me make my money grow and make my money work for me. He sat me down and told me how much I was worth and my jaw hit the floor. "I was like 'yo, for real?' and he was like 'yeah'.
"I was like 's***, we could have stopped this ages ago if it was just about money' but it's not just about money for me. I am young, I am fresh, hungry and I want to f*** these mother****ers up whilst I can. Money's gonna comes, money's always gonna come. I don't struggle for money. In the UFC, [everyone you fight] is a killer, he's a guy that can beat you."
