Israel Adesanya, MMA star, narrowly avoids a drunk driving conviction

Just weeks after he was charged with drunken driving in Auckland, New Zealand, last year, Israel Adesanya, a former two-time middleweight mixed martial arts champion, tried to project humility and remorse.

He immediately pleaded guilty, publicly apologized and declined to seek “name suppression,” in which the news media is barred from publishing a defendant’s name, a common practice in New Zealand for famous or reasonably well-known people facing legal trouble.

These factors, along with what Mr. Adesanya described as the likely and disproportionate negative effects of a criminal conviction on his high-profile career, prompted a judge on Wednesday to dismiss the charges.

Judge Peter Winter of the Auckland District Court instead ordered Mr Adesanya to donate 1,500 New Zealand dollars, or about $900, to charity, suspended his driver’s license for six months and ordered him to enroll in a program to to stop driving under the influence of the police. late 2024. Mr. Adesanya had previously been charged with, but not convicted of, driving while his license was suspended.

Hours later, Mr. Adesanya risked destroying some of the court’s goodwill by mocking the prosecutors to his 8.5 million Instagram followers.

Mr Adesanya posted photos and videos taken from inside the court – an illegal action in New Zealand – as well as video footage of a police prosecutor, to a soundtrack of a popular and offensive song by American rapper Big Sean. The messages were later deleted.

Police in New Zealand said they were aware of the reports and “will contact the court, which is responsible for security, about any next steps.”

In an Instagram story posted on Thursday, Mr Adesanya reflected on the importance of staying humble and avoiding excuses. “You don’t have to be entitled to anything,” he said. “Even me, I had to remind myself of that.”

Born in Lagos, Nigeria, but who has called New Zealand home since the age of 10, Mr Adesanya is among MMA’s brightest talents, but at 34 his star is on the wane. He’s only fought four times in fourteen months, and he described himself as being in “the back end of my career” in a recent YouTube video.

Mr. Adesanya was charged with driving under the influence last August after his blood alcohol level was measured at 0.087 percent. (The legal limit in the United States is 0.08 percent, and in New Zealand 0.05 percent.) He told police he had two cocktails with dinner.

The charge carries a maximum penalty in New Zealand of three months in prison and a fine of up to 4,500 New Zealand dollars, or about $2,800.

But a conviction, Mr Adesanya said, would be disproportionate – likely to cost him hundreds of thousands of dollars in endorsements and abruptly end his glittering career representing New Zealand on the world stage, as his lawyer had argued.

“I’m sure you’ve learned from this,” Judge Winter told the athlete on Wednesday. “You would not like to be put in this position again, as you realize.”