Israel Adesanya sparked controversy with a bold ‘Black’ joke about Charlie Kirk, dividing fans and critics.

While on Instagram, the former UFC Champion decided to take a shot of an unknown drink while telling his followers that he wanted to tell them a “Black joke.”

He then took out a shot glass that had a bullet embedded into the side while saying, “I call this the Kirk shot. You know why?”

Israel Adesanya then drinks from the glass and says, “Cause it’s black. There’s something in there. Just figure it out. Flavored to Chappelle, Oprah. Figure it out.”

The incident occurred shortly after an informal event tied to Adesanya’s training camp before his next UFC outing. It is unclear why he decided to randomly bring up Charlie Kirk.

Adesanya surely knows how to keep social media talking about him.

Last year, following a tough loss to Dricus du Plessis, Adesanya’s frustrations detoured from the Octagon to the streets of New Zealand when he was caught on camera arguing on the road with an unknown driver.

Adesanya could be heard telling the man, “I dare you to try me.”

The following month, the former champ opened up about his financial struggles after losing to Alex Pereira.

“When I was fighting in China and I lost to Alex, they stopped giving me fights. I think, at the time, I was the highest-paid foreign fighter in China, but then they stopped giving me fights. I was like, ‘Look, I have seven more fights on my contract. Can I at least just get three? I just need three,’ because money was running out,” said Adesanya via The JRE podcast.

In the meantime, Adesanya made it clear last month that he has “moved on” from the prospect of a rematch with Sean Strickland.

Adesanya, widely considered one of the greatest middleweights of all time, last fought in February 2025 when he suffered an upset TKO loss to Nassourdine Imavov.

It was the third-straight loss for Israel Adesanya. He was once at the top of his fight game and has now fallen hard in his career.