Last night at UFC 287, Israel Adesanya set the MMA world on fire by reclaiming the UFC middleweight title from his heated rival Alex Pereira.
Despite going 0-3 in his previous fights with Alex Pereira, including their matchup at UFC 281 last year, Israel Adesanya delivered a dramatic second-round knockout to become middleweight champion for the second time.
In the hours that followed Adesanya’s big win, several notable people reacted to his win, both inside and outside of the MMA world.
One such person is Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who was quick to praise ‘The Last Stylebender’ on Instagram in response to Adesanya’s post.
In response to a post that saw ‘The Last Stylebender’ claim that he had left Pereira “Frozen like Elsa” in a clear reference to the Disney film, Zuckerberg stated the following:
“I did it with style. So good and so happy for you!”
Mark Zuckerberg’s response has already received over 3,500 likes on Instagram, while Adesanya’s initial post has received over a million likes. An amazing number that shows the popularity of him.
Zuckerberg has long been recognized as a huge fan of the UFC and its athletes.
Last October, he caused controversy at UFC Fight Night: Mackenzie Dern vs. Yan Xiaonan by allegedly renting the promotion’s APEX center and turning it into a ‘private event’, though Dana White later denied this.
However, the Meta CEO later thanked White for his invitation and later appeared on the UFC’s Instagram page enthusiastically cheering on the fighters during the event.
How popular is Israel Adesanya on Instagram?
With a current total of 7.4 million followers, Israel Adesanya is undoubtedly one of the most popular UFC fighters on Instagram.
Unsurprisingly, many of his fans include other UFC fighters such as current bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling and former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman.
With his current number of followers, ‘The Last Stylebender’ is more popular on the social media app than Nate Diaz, Islam Makhachev, and Jon Jones.
However, he still pales in comparison to former lightweight champions Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov. The two men are the most popular UFC fighters on Instagram, with more than 46 million and 34 million followers respectively.