Watch: UFC star Israel Adesanya calls on Kiwis to support ‘cowards punch’ bill

Sunday, 2 February 2025

UFC star Israel Adesanya has thrown his support behind a bill to criminalise “coward punches”.

National MP Paulo Garcia introduced the bill to create a specific criminal offence for a “coward punch” causing injury or death.

Adesanya’s training partner Fau Vake was killed after he was punched in the head during an altercation in 2021.

UFC star Israel Adesanya is calling on Kiwis to support a bill to criminalise “coward punches”.

The bill would create a specific criminal offence for a “coward punch” causing injury or death and was introduced to parliament on Tuesday.

Adesanya posted a video to social media on Sunday voicing his support for the law change.

“So these guys can’t get off in six months after committing a heinous crime that could kill someone,” he said.

“Let’s eliminate this from our culture because this is not us.”

Fau Vake, a training partner of Adesanya, was killed in 2021 after he was punched in the head during an altercation in central Auckland.

Daniel Havili was charged with manslaughter and sentenced to two years and six months in prison in 2022.

The bill was introduced by National’s New Lynn MP Paulo Garcia who said it would criminalise the specific action of striking a person’s head or neck in circumstances where they are not able to defend themselves from a strike.

“The Crimes Act will be amended so that the offender needs only to have intended to strike the victim’s head or neck, or been reckless as to whether that occurred, in order to be charged with this offence,” he said.

“This change will help New Zealanders feel safer and ensure those who coward punch are properly held to account.”

Adesanya was knocked out by Nassourdine Imavov early in the second round of their UFC middleweight fight in Saudi Arabia on Sunday (NZT).

It was his third loss in a row.