Middleweight king Israel Adesanya sat down with UFC’s McKenzie Pavacich to talk all things in and out of the Octagon, while …
well happy International fight week from myself and middleweight champion of the world Israel adesanya who is quite literally off the plane from New Zealand we needed to get some pampering done because we can’t be walking around Las Vegas during ifw look at anything less than a hundred percent so we’re gonna have a little chat get our nails done and just catch up on something so Izzy thanks so much for sitting down with us today thank you for having me how was your travel good um I’ve had better but this was a good easy to just teleport when you sleep and just wake up but um yeah it was good so probably the most important question that I’m going to ask you today is what are we doing with our nails I normally just get drip tips which people call french tips but they weren’t made in France so I renamed them drip tips okay and minor kind of Glory at the moment so I just want to get that done and then try something new with the magnetic metallic pinky yeah do you mind if I copy the drip tips alrighty because there’s not going to be another chance where you get to pick out my nails so I figured we got to do it we got to do it well we’ll get started on these nails and you’ve been really busy since we saw you last in Miami we talked after the fight and you had said you know this was a business trip yeah when did the business trip end and when were you able to actually enjoy all the hard work that went into that Victory after I left the building in Miami we went uh from the the center straight to the club for the after party get paid and I overstayed well as soon as Tim I asked him like when is my time up and he’s like oh it’s been up for about 40 minutes I was out right let’s bounce because it was packed in there it was hard to move but it was fun it was fun yeah it was something that was an iconic night when you returned home did you take a little bit of time off or was it just kind of straight into the next thing I took some time off for myself just to hang with family time off just to chill with myself reflect over the the accomplishment the victory and then I also helped my teammates get their their work done um but yeah I took time off to myself though and I I’ve been places since like having like there wasn’t really a victory tour but I had like business to attend to in a few different countries so I’ve been around yeah and we saw the premiere of style vendor where did you get to go to Tribeca for the premiere I was there in New York and that was cool that was a that was awesome and that was a a moment I’d never forget it was a well-received doco seen everyone watching in the cinema for the first time because I’m a very raw person I like keep it real but this I’ve never been as honest as I was on this film on camera and no one’s ever seen me in this kind of light so it kind of made me feel just like naked like vulnerable you know so that was the thing I was kind of like uh but then again there’s times in your life where you kind of have to like just bear to everybody and just show them like this is what happens this is part of me and deal with it so it was well received a lot of people could relate um and yeah I can’t wait till people see it well we I think we see a lot of your life we see maybe some of the biggest I want to let you see yeah of course but when you’re in the Octagon you see you know 25 minutes or less of you know just a small part of the journey and all of the work that goes into it so showing the world all of the other sides of you yeah that’s a that’s a big thing why did you decide okay like maybe it’s time for me to tell my life story I don’t know the time we just felt right but also I just it just fell into place I’ve always had the idea to do a documentary in my life I’ve always had that idea when I was coming up like when I made a kit like you know I’m gonna tell my story in this way and that way but um yeah just having the right people to do the documentary with you know they um for example Zoe the director she the way she took the story and told it was unlike any other documentary for sports like you know anyone your mom could watch this and she’s my she might not even be a fan of MMA and still like get something from it it shows a deeper dive into the mind of someone like me so who who is a high achiever in their field and the out of combat you know and we’re not just you know contrary to popular belief just Meatheads or jocks you know like he’s a guy who actually you know has a deeper side to him when you watched it were there moments throughout the time that was covered where you learned something or you noticed something about yourself watching the documentary that you didn’t realize at that time that’s a good question that’s a good question things I noticed about my Yes actually yes it was it was a couple where seeing yourself on screen seeing how you come across as a certain moments that there’s one past halfway in the film where I’m in the car I’m ranting I want to say about what it’s quite a heavily hearted rant and yeah seen it on screen I was just like I cringed because it’s me but even I caught myself in the moment being like right now I need to go out chill because I’m not my best self right now and again the world’s going to see that so it’s like we’ll go through it we’ve all had our moment so I was like it just happens to be on screen on the big screen and now again the world’s gonna see it so I’m prepared for it but yeah I had moments do we think you’ll have a Premiere closer to home yeah we’re gonna do one I’m pretty sure they’re going to do on an NZ uh maybe late August so it kind of like leads into the next fight you know a little bit more eyes on the project as the next fight comes into fruition so yeah we will perfect timing leading up to UFC 293 in Sydney wouldn’t that be fun that would be something I wonder who I’d be fighting but before we get into that I just wanted to do some rapid fire non-fighting questions obviously we have to start with anime because we can’t we can’t not talk about it we always do we cannot so biggest question that’s been lingering in my mind is what what Arc are we in right now of your life that’s a good question how would I even describe this Arc so my last flight leading up to it I wasn’t like a hero or a villain I just kind of disregarded everything I was just like I just said this is about me how selfish now after I’ve overcome that and what I had to go through for the first fight second fight third fight to then get that win I feel like I’m in my like my Hokage Arc almost like getting my belt back you know after losing it yeah like a Redemption Arc and then now I’m on the path again to realizing my destiny as the Avatar of this game so if you could create a corner from any characters but you only get three you get your two main in your bucket who’s your partner I like these okay corner from any characters Goku came to mind first see it’s easy to say Goku Naruto and Aang but actually scratched Goku let me go corner and fight Rockley first I was hoping you would say that yeah my bad no but instantly like you know I was like oh all the name stuff I was like nah let me think strategically in a fight rockly tied you to Specialists have to okay secondly Shikamaru yes it brings IQ yeah smart who knows oh and also I’m thinking one more I want to say l i mean Goosebumps let’s just say l but I don’t know maybe uh let me think let me think the third’s your bucket so like they’re important because they’re behind us okay someone behind the fence that’s talking in your ear when you’re two your other two corners are in front of you in between rounds yeah seismic activity she can feel what’s happening depends on the uh if it’s in the cage she’ll be able to see though depends where it’s if it’s like just on land tough yeah but okay in the cage oh yeah cause you have the crowd uh yeah sure okay I’ll scratch that one more warmer let me think you know what the Sasuke really yeah okay straight to the point it’ll tell you how it is have you ever been to Japan so that’s number one country I have to visit like Japan Amsterdam and there’s a few other places but Japan is like I tried but history presents itself to you you have to take it so I had that she’s the silver five percent itself and I had this plan because I just fought how many times in one yeah I was like man I think it was four times at the time I was like I just want to break I just want to chill for a little bit but then the fight was presented I was like look I have to take this fight I just had like a word to myself I have to take this fight because of History Amsterdam and wherever else Japan will still be there long Bill covet happened so but what Japan is always being at the top of my list the culture I know I love Japan because people who have visited they’re all tell me bro it’s all about you and I know they’ll love me as well because of how fighting culture is so tight in with Japanese culture and martial arts and what you know MMA has done in Japan as well and still does in Japan and I just feel like the people I would really like to meet some Japanese fans because they would not meet them in real life like out here they’re the most sweetest polite people so I feel like the culture over there they’ll be the same as well is this your first ifw not fighting on the card I I want to say yes and no but I fought on the tough finale with Tavares I realized yesterday it’s the second time two years in a row that the azaks have headlined which I think is pretty cool but I’m gonna have fun and face up with whoever Drake is whoever in the cage just in the interest of keeping the flow of our wonderful conversation what what’s your prediction if I’m a betting man probably know who I put my money on but I am a betting man and I’m betting more than money so drica’s first round knockout yeah while we’re on the topic of 290 and Rob and rickus is a big fight but bigger than that main event Alexander volkanovski looking to unify the division you and volkshare a really beautiful relationship from what we see I imagine they spend a little bit of time here and there with him between Perth and now what were some interesting notes about his own character development that I’m sure he underwent after that Islam loss staying true to who he is staying true to who he is as a champion as a as a great staying true to himself it’s it’s even it’s deeper than that ah I don’t know how to put it into words as a fighter artist I understand it because to lose like that on a stage like that when you felt like you won and get robbed of your moment and still hold your head high and not throw your toys you know a sour push all that um yeah his character showed his his character short and the man that he is past fighting showed he’s an inspirational dude man he’s an inspirational dude like just as a human being but as a fighter I look every time it’s like just the homie man he’s uh get homies that inspire you yeah they’re actually inspire you to do better and be great all right well we’re going to get our nails finished but you guys make sure that you don’t miss UFC 290 Alexander volkanovski looking to unify the division against Jerry Rodriguez and of course Robert Whittaker drikis duplessy a huge fight with massive implications in the middleweight division possibly the next Challenger for this man right here Izzy thanks so much for your time oh as always okay we’re usually fist bump people yeah oh that’s true yeah