Israel Adesanya reveals the one fight that gave him "anime-style flashbacks"
Israel Adesanya recently took to YouTube to announce a giveaway in celebration of 100K subscribers. As part of the giveaway, 'The Last Stylebender' engaged in a Q&A with his fans. One of the questions was,
"Do you get anime-style flashacks during your fights?"
To which Adesanya excitedly replied,
"Yes, I actually do. The one I can remember best was the [Kelvin] Gastelum fight in the fifth round. I swear, not just the bit with the famous quote, 'you're not gonna beat me, I'm prepared to die'. That was just me being real. But then there was a bit when I was f***ing him up [repeatedly] and he wouldn't go down, and I went [gesturing with his hands] 'come on, like, let's go.' That felt like ultra-instinct"
You can see the moment Adesanya was referring to in the clip below:
Israel Adesanya is an outspoken fan of anime and comics, referencing them multiple times through his actions or even his clothing. Considering a lot of the anime he's referenced include fight sequences, it's no surprise that Izzy had anime-like flashes during his fight with Kelvin Gastelum.
The two middleweights fought at UFC 236 for the interim title and put on one of the best title fights in UFC history. Israel Adesanya won the fight by unanimous decision and went on to beat Robert Whittaker for the undisputed title at UFC 243.
Here is the complete Q&A video:
Israel Adesanya faces Marvin Vettori at UFC 263:
'The Last Stylebender' puts his middleweight title on the line against 'The Italian Dream' in the main event of UFC 263 on June 12, 2021. The two fought at 'UFC on Fox 29' in 2018, prior to Adesanya winning the belt, with the fight ending in a split-decision win for Izzy.
Marvin Vettori is hungry to avenge the loss and is convinced he has what it takes to dethrone Israel Adesanya. The fight takes place at the Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona, in front of a full-capacity crowd.
Israel Adesanya fought middleweight legend Anderson Silva at UFC 234 and reflected on the anime-like moments pertaining to that fight as well. You can watch him talk discuss it with Joe Rogan in the video below: