Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya is not satisfied with the sentence handed down to Ofa Folau, one of the men involved in the death of Adesanya’s teammate Fauk Vake.
Folau, one of the four men police say was involved in the fatal attack on Vake, plead guilty to assault on Vake and his brother, Ika Vake. He will serve six months of home detention. Adesanya’s camp of City Kickboxing protested with the sentence in a video captured by the New Zealand Herald. Those present included Adesanya, Dan Hooker, Brad Riddell and coach Eugene Bareman.
“It’s like every day or multiple times a week, I’ll just get a moment just like ‘F—k, he’s gone, physically,’” said Adesanya (h/t Sportskeeda). “For me, I don’t have kids but the thought of his daughter still wondering when her dad is coming home, that’s the one that really kicks the most. It’s just sad. I remember in the hospital, she was asking him to wake up. That was really hard.
“He only gets six months of home [detention] where he gets to be in the comfort of his own home and doesn’t get to work and gets to chill,” continued Adesanya. “For me, I don’t know if he can sleep at night. For me, I just don’t understand what kind of a person looks at a law like that and goes ‘Hmm, this is a bad law. Why would we put this in place?’ I don’t understand. I don’t get it.”
Riddell also spoke with the publication.
“The violence in New Zealand is getting pretty bad,” he said. “It’s heartbreaking.”
Vake died in May, days after he was brutally attacked in downtown Auckland. Siofilisi Paongo and Semise Pomale have been charged with common assault. The last individual, whose name has been suppressed by the courts, was charged with manslaughter. The three men have all pled not guilty.
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