Israel Adesanya is a well-documented fan of anime, having scribbled Robert Whittaker’s name into his Death Note before defeating the Australian for the first time.
‘The Last Stylebender’ has referenced multiple anime characters throughout his combat sports career.
Most recently, Adesanya used a clip from the Japanese manga show Chainsaw Man to send a message to his upcoming opponent, Alex Pereira. The fight will headline UFC 281, which takes place on November 12 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
The middleweight champion posted the video to Instagram, writing:
“November 12. We Chop Life.”
Adesanya is yet to taste defeat at middleweight, with no challenge proving too great. However, many believe his next opponent may be the one to put an end to the dominance.
Alex Pereira has very little MMA experience, with a seven-fight record that sits at 6-1. However, ‘Poatan’ had an illustrious kickboxing career, during which he defeated Adesanya twice.
Both fights were close, but Pereira was able to win the first by decision and the second via a devastating knockout in the final round. This is why some fans believe he will be able to defeat Israel Adesanya inside the cage.
But with their third meeting contested in MMA and not kickboxing, the champ’s wealth of experience may help him pull one back in his combat series with the Brazilian.
Israel Adesanya laughs at lack of big-name opponents on Alex Pereira’s record
Israel Adesanya and his brother David have built an incredibly successful YouTube channel over the past few years. Content has been consistently released, including behind-the-scenes footage of Adesanya’s training camps and fight week activities.
Another main feature of the channel are reaction videos, where Adesanya watches and reacts to UFC events. The most recent fight-reaction video was for the UFC 280 pay-per-view, during which a promo video for UFC 281 was played.
As highlights of Alex Pereira’s UFC career were being shown, Daniel Cormier can be heard hyping up ‘Poatan’ by discussing what makes him so deadly.
However, when ‘DC’ named one out of the three UFC opponents Pereira has faced, Adesanya burst out laughing and said:
“Who else? It’s like, ‘Sean Strickland!’ And I’m like, ‘Okay, go on… Who else?’ Well you’ve got to sell it though, man, you’ve got to sell me the show. Sell me the dream.”
Watch Adesanya’s latest reaction video below:
