"I've been drilling these for a long time" - When Israel Adesanya proved his love for Naruto and anime by slamming "fake" hand sign comments
Anime is an integral part of UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya's life. Even his ring name, 'The Last Stylebender,' is a shout-out to the legendary anime series, Avatar: The Last Air Bender.
Adesanya is known for paying tribute to various animes during his fights. The Nigerian-born Kiwi has shown off Naturo ninja hand signs many a time during his bouts. So when fans accused his Naruto hand gestures of being fake, the 33-year-old was not too pleased.
During a promotional segment for his 2018 fight against Brad Tavares at The Ultimate Fighter 27 finale card, the 'The Last Stylebender' blasted fans questioning his love for Naruto while, clarifying that his hand sings were as legit as they come:
"[This is] for everyone saying that my hand signs are fake. Look, I've been drilling these for a long time. These are not fake hand signs. These are for weeboos, all the anime nerds. Like you guys don't understand. Like they keep saying ahh, that's bullsh*t [he;s] just f*****g doing stupid hand signs. I drill these things, and I get them inside, it's for my chakra to infuse them and make sure I can like, channel it in that moment."
Although he is an anime super fan, Adesanya, unlike many anime purists, doesn't subscribe to the belief that animations have to be made in Japan for them to qualify as anime:
"Shut up, doesn't matter where it was made. The style of animation is what makes anime. Doesn't matter if it was made in f*****g Alaska, whatever. Anime is a style, doesn't have to be created in Japan for it to be anime."
Catch Israel Adesanya's comments below:
Has Israel Adesanya done any voice-over for animes?
Israel Adesanya is living an anime fan's dream. Earlier in 2021, the UFC fighter got the opportunity to do voice-over work for the Netflix martial art anime series Baki Hanma.
The middleweight champion voiced a character named Chamomile Lessen in the series. During a segment on his YouTube channel, Adesanya shared his love for voice-over work, saying:
"I got offered to play a character in the series and I had to jump on it. For me, voiceover work is my sh*t. I’m good at different accents, different tones, different languages, different vibes. I’m a man of the people Mr. world wide, I can relate to so many different cultures... This was my first dip. My foot in the door, if you will, in voiceover work, and yeah, I had fun."
Catch Israel Adesanya's comments below: