Israel Adesanya, Dustin Poirier get warm welcomes in hometowns

Dustin Poirier and Israel Adesanya both captured interim titles at UFC 236, defeating Max Holloway and Kelvin Gastelum respectively. Now proud owners of some flashy new UFC belts, the UFC 236 winners Poirier and Adesanya both recently returned to home to hero’s welcomes.

The UFC documented Israel Adesanya and Dustin Poirier’s homecomings on Instagram.

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The two interim champions went into greater detail about their respective trips home on their personal Instagram accounts.

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“Such an honor to receive the key to Lafayette Louisiana yesterday,” Dustin Poirier wrote in a post on his Instagram account. “I love my city. I’m blown away by the love and support from Acadiana. Thank you all! Im very grateful and will continue to represent us the best I can.”

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“My heart today was like 😭😭😭…so much emotion as I returned back to my old primary school,” Israel Adesanya wrote in an Instagram post documenting his visit to his former home in Nigeria. “Everything felt so small to me as I strolled my former stomping grounds cuz I’m a big boy now, but I was filled with a different sence of wonder, pride and joy. I saw myself as each of those kids and I couldn’t help but return to my child mind (not hard for me to do) and remember how I looked at the world at their ages. So many memories that I hadn’t even thought of in over 20 years came flooding back like flashbacks.
It was a surreal, crazy and wonderful experience. I’ll remember this feeling forever💖💕
Shoutout to all the kids at #chrislandschool.”

Needless to say, both Dustin Poirier and Israel Adesanya are heroes to the people in the places they come from.

Poirier is expected to unify his interim belt with the undisputed title owned by Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 242 in early September. Adesanya, meanwhile, is expected to meet undisputed champion Robert Whittaker at a pay-per-view in Australia in the fall.

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 5/19/2019.