Anyone who has listened to or watched Israel Adesanya for more than five minutes knows he loves anime.
The UFC middleweight champion has been known to pay tribute to his favorite shows and characters by taunting before, during, and after his fights through signature references such as nailing various Naruto hand gestures:
Fuck yo #rasengan #spiritbomb pic.twitter.com/GunAh3rYjc
— Israel Adesanya (@stylebender) February 12, 2018
Or waving in Anderson Silva like Rock Lee before and during their fight:
We’ve arrived at the #UFC234 headliner: Unbeaten Israel Adesanya (@stylebender) fights the legend, @SpiderAnderson Silva, in a 185-pound title eliminator. https://t.co/wb5PW8qZml pic.twitter.com/c9EEVap0rr
— MMA Junkie (@MMAjunkie) February 10, 2019
16 and 0, the nigerian weeb came through with it!@stylebender threw out the rock lee movesets on a national stage and took down one of the greatest legends in UFC
A beautiful fight, but channeling anime moves cannot be beaten – and our weeb king is just getting started #UFC234 pic.twitter.com/FwBxdZEFiB
— Yung Zoe (Lifelong Atlanta Braves Fan) (@yungkitty404) February 10, 2019
“I feel like I’ve played a part in the rise of anime in sports over the last few years,” Adesanya said on a recent video posted to his YouTube channel. “I feel like I have because I express myself authentically. …Those who knew about anime, they were like, ‘Damn, this a real ninja.’ It’s what every anime fan tries to emulate.”
Adesanya’s love for anime has come full circle now as he recently completed his first voiceover work for the Netflix series “Baki Hanma” which is a sequel to the original “Baki.” In the martial arts anime, Adesanya voices the character named Chamomile Lessen.
“I got offered to play a character in the series and I had to jump on it,” Adesanya said. “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. …This was my first dip. My foot in the door, if you will, in voiceover work, and yeah, I had fun.”
The middleweight champ admits there were some learning moments during his recording sessions but just like in a championship fight, he quickly learned and adjusted to get the job done.
“Baki Hanma” is currently streaming on Netflix if you want to check out his completed work.
Check out the Adesanya talk about his entire experience doing voiceover work in the video above.
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