Q&A: Israel Adesanya Peels Back His Many Layers

More than the best pound-for-pound fighter in the sport, UFC's middleweight champion bends style like no other.

As fighter nicknames go, Israel Adesanya’s handle, The Last Stylebender, isn’t bad. But the “last” is unnecessary. No fighter ever has—or likely ever will—contort style quite like this guy. Born in Nigeria, fighting out of New Zealand, quoting Jane Goodall and arriving to a Manhattan office wearing a pearl necklace, French tip nails and rainbow shoes, Adesanya, 32, takes the perception of a cage fighter and applies a guillotine choke.

His entrance is all the more striking since it came three days after he retained his UFC middleweight title once again, this time with a clinical, if—in his eyes, anyway—disappointingly cautious, unanimous decision over his rival Robert Whittaker in UFC 271. Adesanya is now 23–1 as a professional MMA fighter, his one blemish coming in a decision loss after a foolishly ambitious move up to light heavyweight.

It is not difficult to argue that Adesanya is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the sport right now. Except that he would take issue with that characterization. He happens to fight. He fights well. It’s just one of his dimensions. He was a professional dancer and still can do this as part of his workout. He is a reader. He is into anime. (His nickname is a play on The Last Airbender anime series.)

A human being as well-rounded as he is a fighter, Adesanya represents the best of the UFC. So long as he’s not ginning up pay-per-views with bold trash talk or headbutting police cars or possessing the WWE sensibilities of Conor McGregor, Adesanya will not be the promotion’s top draw. But he will continue bending style. Which is fine by him.

Adesanya recently visited with Sports Illustrated for a styleb-ending interview. (Lightly edited for brevity and clarity.)

Israel Adesanya.

Jasmin Frank-USA TODAY Sports

SI: Tell me about the moment right after a fight.

Israel Adesanya: What do you mean?

SI: You’ve had this intense experience, this build-up. Then it’s over. The adrenaline stops coursing.

IA: Oh, I see. I just look forward to my shower after the fight ’cause I feel like the shower is the most honest place in the world. You’re normally there alone. You’re in your bare essentials, you’re naked and you’re alone with your thoughts. So yeah, after all the stimulus of pulling me from this direction, that direction, we need you here to speak to this person, go to the after party, fanfare, family, friends and wants to take photos, congratulate you … I’m still on the clock till I get to have my shower. And that’s when I get to just debrief and just kind of build my own thoughts and see how I really feel.

SI: What are you thinking about?

IA: Well, what’s something I—can I give that away? It’s a precious moment, that time in the shower. [This last fight against Robert Whitaker] I felt like I wish I trusted my instinct more, right? The first fight I was probably 80% instinct, 85% instinct. But this fight, I listened to my coach. “Let’s stick to the game plan on this one—’cause the last time we didn’t even use the game plan. So let’s stick to the game plan on this one, ’cause I called audibles last time.”

But there was a point in the fight, I felt like I should have asked him what I dropped him with in the first round. Because I didn't ask him because I felt like, I don't want to fixate on that, or I don't want to look at, you know, in the past, after the first round. So I should have asked my coach first, what did I drop him with? It was a straight two down the pike.

SI: What about right before the fight? Guys are walking around backstage, beaten up. How much are you aware of all that?

IA: It's all happening, but I'm not attached to any of that, so I just I see it on the screen. I'm just like, “Jared [Cannonier] won? Cool.” But I don't let my adrenaline elevate that close to the fight. I stay calm and focused on what I have to do.

SI: How do you do that?

IA: Experience. Reps. Being objective. Self-knowledge. I've just watched myself like Jane Goodall watches chimps. So I just know how I tick.

SI: Are you more Nigeria or more New Zealand?

IA: For me? I’m just a citizen of Earth, you know. I don’t really care what anyone else is from or whatever. … Someone could be from Sri Lanka, could be from Alaska. As long as you f--- with me, I f--- with you. And if you’re inspired by my story on what I’m doing? I’m glad you’re on this journey with me. I’m a citizen of the earth. In this day and age like there’s so much divisiveness and they’re just making new ways to keep dividing people. So I’m like, I just rather be Mr. Worldwide.

SI: What’s the most New Zealand thing about you?

IA: Walking around bare feet.

SI: How often are you fighting, ideally?

IA: Not enough in this pandemic. I said this year I want to fight at least three times, so I’m on my way to doing that.

SI: You’re committed to the weight class?

IA: Yeah. I want to lap the division, but right now I’m going [for] new blood. On my undercard … Jared Cannonier did quite well, and I already said to him backstage at the weigh-in, “Please take care of this guy so I can get some fresh meat.’ I’m excited to have any challenger now that I haven’t faced. This gets me excited. He said, ‘F--- yeah,’ that he was trying to get this working. I know it’s mutual respectful we want to fight each other.

Israel Adesanya.

Jasmin Frank-USA TODAY Sports

SI: Do you care if you have beef with the guy you’re fighting? Does it help you?

IA: That's a good question. Yeah, I think so. I think it does help 'cause I do like a little bit of static.

SI: Friction?

IA: Yeah, it’s good. It’s just good for balance, duality.

SI: Does it make you a better fighter?

IA: It can and it can’t. It depends on how you use it. It depends how much you focus on that. But no, I think a little bit of static is good as part of fighting right. Fighting is something that naturally happens when you don’t like someone if there’s no fork in society rules, so you have beef with them, duke it out, you know on some primal s---. Fortunately, we have or unfortunately, we know we can’t drink from the skulls of our enemies anymore.

SI: At least in other sports, there’s all this social science that says when you have rivalry, it makes you a better competitor when there’s something personal at stake.

IA: Look at someone like Michael Jordan. We’re talking about this the other day. In The Last Dance, you know when he would make up his narrative in his head? When I have static with someone, I have a narrative. Always, each fight for me has a narrative, you know? [My trainer] reminded me of all these guys I hated in high school that used to pick on me. He was embodying that image. I was saying, ‘I’m gonna take a bite out the bully.’ That was my narrative. So yeah, it’s all about the story we’re telling ourselves. And I like that static. I feel like it does make me a better fighter when I want to.

SI: So what happens to that narrative when it’s over? You still have lingering hostility, do you?

IA: For me, it’s like one of the laws of power. Crush your enemies totally, 'cause if you leave signs of life, they'll come back for revenge. So I've crushed him. And totally badly and I still have my foot on his neck.

SI: How bad did you get bullied as a kid?

IA: A lot.

SI: Why?

IA: 'Cause I was Black.

SI: Is that what it was?

IA: Only Black kid in this rural town in New Zealand, and New Zealand is a low-key racist. You know …not like everywhere is racist, but you know it’s a low-key racist place. It’s not quite covert, but then kids are cruel and kids are not so covert. They’re not trained yet how to be adults. They’re filled with hormones at ages 13, 14. In a boys school. You get picked on, shoved around, and there’s a few stories like that. Definitely added to the chips and dip on my shoulders.

SI: What did your family say to that?

IA: Ah, they weren't happy with it. There were times my dad would go to school and have a word with the principal.

SI: Was there a moment of reckoning? Was there this cinematic-like plot point when you said no more?

IA: Yeah, there was one, yeah. I remember when this kid for whatever reason, trying to pick on me, was picking on me from lunchtime. And after school he got me somewhere and then, like, it was about five or six other kids watching and he wanted to have a fight. And I kind of thought, like, you know what? All right; I’ll oblige. And then I messed them up. I didn’t even know how to fight back then, but I was just really nimble and I was a dancer, so I just also, I … I played video games and I did taekwondo already. He had a bloody nose. And then, yeah, I walked with my head and my tail held high. So yeah, that was like a one where I was kind of like yeah, I’m glad I stood up to that guy.

SI: What’s the last book you read?

IA: I’m currently listening to The 48 Laws of Power. Listening, it sinks in better.

SI: Do you journal?

IA: I tape a lot. But not like writing. I’m losing the skill of the magic of writing.

SI: Tell me the significance of your [rainbow] shoes.

IA: Just matches the outfit. It’s just the whole drip.

Israel Adesanya. 

Adam Hagy/USA TODAY Sports

SI: How much pleasure do you take in splintering perceptions? You know the average person says, “Oh, he’s a cage fighter,” and you’re here busting Jane Goodall references. You’re wearing rainbow shoes.

IA: It’s fun. Ya know, I’ve lived life. My toes are magenta with sparkles on them and [look at] my nails’ drip tips. They’d normally called them French tips. They’re not even from France. So I called them drip tips. I like my pearl necklace. I’m very comfortable in my own skin and even the shoes fit.

I say, “I’m not gay but my shoes are.” That was a tweet I’ve made yesterday. Yeah, I just thought [it] was funny, but there’s like people [that] think it’s weird. People just think ’cause I’m so comfortable in my skin and I can dance and I look after my skin and I’m pretty, that like, “Ooh, he must be gay.” I’m sorry but I’m just comfortable being myself. It’s fun to poke fun at people.

SI: You take pleasure in ripping apart the stereotype. 

IA: Ripping it, yeah, or social norms like this big cage fighter who walks into a room and everyone looks at me like, well, we just got f------ French tips. “You’re a world champion badass. Why do you have French tips? Why you wearing a pearl necklace?” Why? ’Cause their whole perception of what a cage fighter, UFC champion is gets shattered.

SI: You’re managing your fame. But humans were not cut out to be famous.

IA: No, no, there's no textbook like, "Here now you're famous. Go to page one, chapter..."

When I fought in MSG, that week I watched this YouTube clip of a guy in Times Square. Long story short, he walked around Times Square regular. No one paying attention to him. Then he hired security and hired entourage and walked around Times Square and everyone started to take photos. The effect that fame has on human minds and how that can skew people’s perception of you, including yourself if you're not objective.

I watched that [Framing Britney Spears documentary] the other day. Triggered, f------ my worst nightmare. At one point she was driving and there was some paparazzi chasing her and they’re like, “Holy s---, she’s crazy. She just running a red light.” And I’m like, “Yeah, ’cause you’re f------ chasing her.” Worst nightmare. This is why I’ve constantly put it out there in the public from my Instagram. Like these are my boundaries. If you cross them, don’t expect me to react the way you think I should react.

SI: You don’t want to move to L.A.?

IA: I don’t want to dance with the devil.

SI: No, Vegas. That’s the devil.

IA: Yeah, no Vegas either. I think the most I spent in Vegas was like two weeks and that’s too much. When I went to San Diego, I liked the vibe.

SI: What’s your UFC moment so far?

IA: Before that fifth round against [Kelvin] Gastelum. I looked at him and said, “You’re not going to beat me. I’m prepared to die,” and then when the referee went, “Let’s fight,” I was like Aya bi Ekun. That means “the heart of a lion” in my native tongue [Yoruba]. I just went at him and I just watched him in that fifth round and I meant that I was ready to die. I was like, This is how I die, is like glorious death. But guess what, if I’m ready to die, I’m ready to kill. So I saw I signed my life away. … So if I had taken his life—God forbid, I’m glad he’s fine and he survived that—but if he had died in that moment after the fight, I would have been O.K. with it, because I signed myself away. And I meant that s---. Yeah.

SI: No emotional scar tissue?

IA: No. I mean, I’m an empath. You know, I’m … I’m on the cusp. Half Cancer. Half Leo. So you see all of my feels all over the internet. I empathize with people and I care about people. But when it comes to playing my game, [there] isn’t friends in this game. Yeah, we know what we signed up for and he would have done the same thing to me, so ...

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