Israel Adesanya apologizes to controversial Olympian Imane Khelif over recent transgender allegations: “My bad!”

Former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya has apologized to controversial Olympian Imane Khelif after labeling her as a biological man.

Adesanya returns at UFC 305 later this month against UFC middleweight titleholder Dricus du Plessis in Perth. He returns to the Octagon after almost a full year away from fighting, stemming from a loss to Sean Strickland at UFC 293.

Adesanya took some heat last week on social media when he publically attacked Khelif and accused her of fighting women as a biological man. Khelif failed a gender eligibility test at a 2023 event, stoking the flames of speculation regarding her 2024 Summer Olympics appearance in women’s boxing.

After it was reported that Khelif suffers from Swyer syndrome, a rare condition in which women can have an X and a Y chromosome (man), Adesanya has backtracked on his stance.

Israel Adesanya pivots on Imane Khelif tweet

During a recent interview with The Rock, a radio station in New Zealand, Adesanya apologized to Khelif.

“From now on, I will leave women’s fights to women. I tried to speak up about it and apparently, I got it wrong, a lot of people got it wrong, there was misinformation,” Adesanya said. “I spoke up about it because I don’t like to get triggered, but when something triggers me, I’m a fighter and I saw that I’m like, ‘What?’ And I saw the news or the articles speaking on it, ‘Why they letting a trans person [in]?’ Then I find out later, okay, she wasn’t actually trans…

“So, to the lady, my bad. I got that wrong. But for me, still is that — all this grey area, even now, they let some pedo guy compete. Wait, so what? He served his time, cool, but you’re still going to let him compete in the Olympics and that goes against the guidelines of the Olympics’ rules … anyway, to the lady, the boxer, I am sorry. I didn’t understand what was going on.” (h/t MMA Mania/Drake Riggs)

As of this writing, Khelif hasn’t responded nor acknowledged Adesanya’s comments. She recently called for the “bullying” against her to end following a tumultuous week at the 2024 Summer Olympics.