Alberto Del Rio reacts to Israel Adesanya's entrance as WWE icon The Undertaker at UFC 276 (Exclusive)
Former WWE Superstar Alberto Del Rio has given his take on UFC's Israel Adesanya entering the octagon as The Undertaker before his latest fight.
On July 2, Adesanya defeated Jared Cannonier at UFC 276 to retain the UFC Middleweight Championship. The 33-year-old wore The Undertaker's signature hat and held an urn as he slowly walked his way through the arena to the WWE legend's music.
Del Rio provided Spanish commentary on the event alongside Andres Bermudez for ESPN. In an interview with Sportskeeda Wrestling's Riju Dasgupta, the Mexican reflected on his experience watching Adesanya's entrance and fight:
"That was amazing," Del Rio said. "I think that was the best part of the event. To be honest, the fight was not good. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Adesanya, but the fight was not a good fight. We had a good card, and I remember me and Andres Bermudez calling the fight, and the event was pretty good, the preliminaries were good, but then the main event was like, 'Okay, when is something interesting going to happen?'" [4:16 – 4:48]
Nick Khan, Stephanie McMahon, Triple H, and Vince McMahon attended UFC 276 alongside former SmackDown commentator Pat McAfee. Del Rio believes the WWE higher-ups had no problem with the UFC requesting permission to use The Undertaker's iconic theme for Adesanya's entrance:
"The moment I heard The Undertaker's music and I saw him holding the urn, I was like, 'Oh my God, this is freaking amazing!' Then everybody, Andres, and the rest of the people from UFC and ESPN, they were asking me, 'How is this possible? How is this possible?' It's possible because Vince McMahon, Triple H, and Stephanie are there, and of course they said, 'Yes, you can do it.'" [4:48 – 5:21]
Watch the video above to hear more from Del Rio about the inspiration for his villainous WWE persona.
Alberto Del Rio applauds WWE for allowing UFC to use The Undertaker's music
Del Rio worked for WWE between 2009-2014 and 2015-2016, during which time he captured four world titles. The 45-year-old also won the United States Championship twice, the 2011 Royal Rumble Match and the 2011 RAW Money in the Bank Ladder Match.
BAH GAWD THAT'S THE UNDERTAKER'S MUSIC! 💀
@stylebender with another EPIC walkout! 🤌
#UFC276 https://t.co/aXXUp4v4lg
He thinks WWE's crossover with the UFC proved to be good business for both companies:
"A huge organization like the UFC would not go and do that without permission because if you do that in this country, especially this country, but in the corporate world, you will get a letter from that company suing you for trillions and zillions and millions of dollars," Del Rio continued. "So, they got the permission from the WWE to do that, and it was fantastic." [5:22 – 5:48]
Adesanya was not the only UFC fighter to use music from WWE at UFC 276. Earlier in the night, Jessica-Rose Clark entered the octagon to Shawn Michaels' theme before her fight against Julija Stoliarenko.
Did you enjoy Israel Adesanya's entrance as The Undertaker? Let us know in the comments section below.
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The second season of Del Rio's Nacion Lucha Libre wrestling promotion began last month. Find out more details about the company here.