Israel Adesanya gives chilling explanation of how 'Death Note' anime influenced his Robert Whittaker fight
The love Israel Adesanya has for anime is well-documented among MMA fans. He has emulated iconic scenes from different anime shows on multiple occasions - be it imitating Rock Lee from Naruto in the face-off against Anderson Silva or writing Robert Whittaker's name down in Death Note-style inside the octagon.
In a recent GQ interview explaining his connection with anime, Israel Adesanya revealed that his pretending to write Whittaker's name down at UFC 243 wasn't a sudden improvised moment.
In his mind, the former middleweight champion had set the theme of the fight to be related to Death Note, especially because Whittaker's cage name is 'The Reaper'.
Speaking on Death Note, Israel Adesanya said:
"I love a good thriller...So like, I said, in every fight, I always have a theme, and Robert's fight name is 'The Reaper'. So I was like, 'Imma show you who the real God of Death is.' So yeah, I did everything with intention. When I stepped in and I took his name and I wrote it in a 'Death Note'. There are some forces you don't tap into, but I like to tap into them once in a while. That was the theme of the that fight - the battle to see who the real God of Death is, and I showed him who the God of Death was."
Take a look at the interview below:
The story of the Japanese anime Death Note revolves around a young man named Light Yagami and his edge-of-the-seat rivalry with the globally renowned detective.
Light takes on the title of 'Kira' in secret and uses the 'Death Note' of a Shinigami, a Japanese God of Death, to become a mass murderer of criminals. As per the rule of the 'Death Note', any person whose name is written in it dies within a stipulated time.
'The Last Stylebender' ended up knocking Whittaker out in the second round of their fight in 2019.
He emerged victorious in their rematch last year as well, although this time it went to the distance.
Israel Adesanya tapped into the story of Naruto for Anderson Silva fight
The Robert Whittaker fight was not the only time Israel Adesanya took inspiration from an anime for his fights.
As a Japanese anime, Naruto has a massive fan base worldwide and Israel Adesanya is definitely among them. He revealed in the interview that his fight against middleweight legend Anderson Silva was influenced by the anime:
"When I fought [Anderson] Silva, I felt like it was two taijutsu masters fighting. So, my character was Rock Lee. So you see me in the intro when Bruce Buffer was announcing my name, I took the weights off and I went like that. Boom. I hit a flip, I hit the pose. It was gangster. If you know, you know. I play to my crowd."
Rock Lee, the character Adesanya claimed to emulate, is a shinobi on the show who wasn't as skilled in ninjutsu or genjutsu like his peers. However, he overcame the shortcomings by training extremely hard in taijutsu, or combat training, to the extent that he could move around swiftly with weights attached to his leg.
The scene Adesanya referred to about Rock Lee taking off his weights is an iconic one among the Naruto fandom.
Other than Death Note and Naruto, Israel Adesanya named Spriggan, Jujutsu Kaisen, and Avatar: The Last Airbender as his top anime shows. His nickname, 'The Last Stylebender', is taken from the last.
His supercar, McLaren 720S Spider, is named 'Kurama' after the nine-tailed fox from Naruto.