UFC fighter Israel Adesanya has used his latest victory to once again call on Jacinda Ardern to toughen rules against so-called "coward punches".
Following yesterday's UFC 263 win over Marvin Vettori, he delivered an emotional tribute to Fau Vake, his training partner who died in hospital after allegedly being punched during an assault last month.
"Fau Vake, I love you man. Willy, John, James, all the Vake fam, all love. This fight I dedicate to you Fau," Adesanya said, before laying the belt on the floor and kissing the mat.
In the post-fight news conference, Adesanya further pressed his case for tougher laws.
"Australia was ahead. They created a really harsh penalty for people who blind shot people, and you'd expect New Zealand to do the same thing," Adesanya said from Arizona.
"For what reason would you want to pass on a bill like that? If someone who walks up to someone who is doing nothing, be it an old man or old lady or whatever, and blind shots them from the back, give them 20 years – standard.
"I don't want to get angry, I don't want to get political, but I expect better from the government of New Zealand. But I'm not a politician; don't f***ing listen to me...but I know right from wrong, and that was f***ing wrong what they did to my boy. It was wrong, and they know that too.
"Jacinda, I don't know who else is in your cabinet, but you know it was wrong, you know exactly what to do. I don't know what puppet master is pulling the strings, but you're the leader of the country. You handled to mosque shootings like a f***ing champ, can you please do the same with this s*** too?"
Last month Ardern cautioned against creating new laws for “individual sets of circumstances”, amid a petition calling for harsher "coward punch laws".
“One of the issues is when you create separate pieces of legislation, sometimes you can create unintended consequences,” she said, not speaking about Vake's case specifically.
“Currently, of course, you are able via a manslaughter charge, for instance, to receive a term of life imprisonment.”
Under this system, a judge would be allowed to consider all factors of the nature of offending, Ardern said.
“The concern would be if you start creating individual sets of circumstances, whether or not you limit the ability of the judiciary to access some of those higher penalties if that’s appropriate.”
Last year, former National MP Matt King’s Crimes (Coward Punch Causing Death) Amendment Bill was voted down in Parliament in its first reading.
One man was charged with manslaughter for Vake's death last week, while three other men have also been charged, including for intent to injure and common assault.
No pleas have been entered.
SHARE ME