Israel Adesanya reveals approaches from Hollywood ahead of UFC title defence

By Christopher Reive

The silver screen awaits Israel Adesanya – but the UFC middleweight champion has no plans to be lured in that direction until his career inside the octagon is over.

Adesanya has done some work in the industry before, providing voicework for a small role in Netflix anime show Baki Hanma. However, ahead of his title defence at UFC 281 in New York on Sunday, the 33-year-old revealed Hollywood has come knocking several times.

“I would have filmed for Creed III maybe two weeks ago but I turned that down,” Adesanya revealed.

“That’s like the fourth one I’ve turned down because this is what I’m doing right now; I’m great at this, I’m earning a lot at this.”

Adesanya (23-1) has been a dominant force in the middleweight division since making his UFC debut in 2018, winning all 12 of his bouts in the 84kg division and claiming his first UFC title in April of 2019. This weekend’s defence against familiar foe Alex Pereira (6-1) at Madison Square Garden will be his ninth title fight in a row.

In February this year, ahead of his successful title defence against Robert Whittaker, Adesanya re-signed with the UFC on a lucrative deal that was said to make him one of the promotion’s highest-paid athletes.

“Hollywood’s right there; it’s always going to be there. Voiceover work is right there, I have a lot of anime ideas I want to put out there – I own my own production company – but all of that s*** is for later on. Right now, I’m one of the baddest motherf*****s in this bitch, so I’m going to keep doing that.”

As far as his reign as UFC middleweight champion goes, this weekend’s test against Pereira is the most intriguing he has faced given the background the two share.

Adesanya and Pereira met in the kickboxing arena in 2016 and 2017, with Pereira claiming a controversial decision win before knocking Adesanya out in their rematch.

While there are massive differences between kickboxing and mixed martial arts, Adesanya said he expected the success of his Brazilian counterpart and believed the two would most likely cross paths again once Pereira joined the UFC.

“I expected it,” Adesanya said.

“I cleared the middleweight division, so I cleared the pathway for him directly to me – and I like big fights; big money fights. This is one of those and the story behind it as well, so without me, he wouldn’t be here. There’s no way, he would’ve been exposed a long time ago – but I’ll expose him this weekend.”

The latest instalment of the rivalry between the two will headline one of the most loaded UFC cards of the year, with the strawweight belt on the line in the co-main event between reigning champion Carla Esparza and former champion Zhang Weili.

Adesanya will be one of four New Zealand fighters on the card. Dan Hooker, ranked No 12 in the lightweight division, puts his spot in the top 15 on the line against surging Peruvian fighter Claudio Puelles in the first fight of the pay-per-view section of the card. Fellow lightweight Brad Riddell will be the featured preliminary bout in a fan-friendly matchup against Brazil’s Renato Moicano, while light heavyweight Carlos Ulberg opens the card against Romania’s Nicolae Negumereanu.