Israel Adesanya Tattoos: What is the meaning behind The Last Stylebender’s body art?
UFC Middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya, goes into further detail of his meaningful tattoos.
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Israel Adesanya explains his tattoos and the meaning behind them. (Image Sources - Premium Times Nigeria/ MMAFighting)
Israel Adesanya is one of the most prevalent stars on the UFC roster. The middleweight kickboxer is a Nigerian-born New Zealand fighter who had a lot of success in his career. He could arguably be the third biggest draw in the UFC after Conor McGregor and Jon Jones. In addition to his striking Israel Adesanya is known for his tattoos and his love for anime.
In total, Israel Adesanya has quite a few tattoos and all of them are meaningful to the fighter. A wide variety of tattoos, ranging from anime characters to his pets, are inked onto his body. All of them have a backstory and a deep message that ‘The Last Stylebender’ wanted to convey.
Tattoos of Israel Adesanya
Tattoos are a deeply personal and intimate thing for any person, as they stay with you for life. Such is the case for Izzy, who has them all over his body. Let’s take a look at what each tattoo means.
The Chest tattoo
Being a native Nigerian, Adesanya thought of getting a chest piece that says ‘The Broken Native’ with the continent of Africa integrated with a lion right below it.
The fighter explains that the name of this tattoo was inspired by his old dance crew that he was a part of. Israel also goes on to say that he realized that the phrase should be his whole life story.
The Avatar Toph Tattoo
People who know Israel Adesanya well enough, know that he is a huge fan of the 2005 television series Avatar. So, no surprises were to be had when the fans came to know when the fighter tattooed a character of the show, Toph, on his right hand.
The Werewolf on his shoulder
One of the grounds where Israel’s fierce fighting style comes from is his love for werewolves. The fighter had this to say about the tattoos “Being a werewolf would be so cool as I could be the animal that I love and human at the same time.”
Deadpool tattoo
Adesanya recalls getting the Marvel comic character Deadpool on his torso by saying “I saw this picture on the cover of a comic one time and I thought it looks cool.” Further explaining that he has always wanted the character tattooed on his body.
Calvin and Hobbes
On his right bicep, Israel tattooed a picture of the famous American comic book franchise, Calvin and Hobbes. He was a huge fan of the publication and had claimed he had read all of the books. Adesanya says that the bicep tattoo symbolizes the ‘power of imagination’.
The Stomach Tattoo
The Nigerian fighter explains the tattoo is a mixture of his favorite shows, Avatar the Last Airbender and Naruto. He said, “It’s the ocean and moon spirit from Avatar and the nine-tail seal from Naruto”. While talking about how the tattoo came about, he had this to say “I just mashed two of my favorite shows together and I thought it turned out well.”
Pet dog on his neck
Turns out the strong and tough fighter in the octagon had a soft side to him. Adesanya has a tattoo of his pet dog, ‘Millionaire’ on his neck. “I named him ‘millionaire’ for a reason because I knew what’s coming my way,” said the UFC fighter when asked about the tattoo.
The huge back tattoo
The middleweight fighter has a huge image of a dragon tattooed on his back. “It’s sort of Japanase-ey, the style of it,” said Adesanya as he described the tattoo. “I made it a crocodile dragon that just goes up my back,” said Adesanya. Though the tattoo was incomplete and was yet to be finished, Israel said, “I can’t wait till it’s finished, until I shade it all in.”
Arabic letter tattoo
Izzy’s most recent tattoo was of an Arabic lettering above his left eyebrow which read the word ‘dragon.’ The fighter posted a video of him getting the tattoo with the caption “The old version of you must die before you come alive! ?“
The true meaning behind Israel Adesanya’s ‘Naruto and Avatar’ tattoo
UFC Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya is undoubtedly one of the best fighters on the roster. He is well known for his speed and deadly striking ability. The topic of animation cannot be ignored when talking about Izzy. His two favorite shows are ‘Avatar the last Airbender and ‘Naruto’ considering he has a tattoo of both of the shows’ references combined on his stomach.
He said, “I’ve got the reaper death seal with the yin and yang, the ocean and moon spirit from Avatar. These are the people that empower me and inspire me and I like putting them on my body.”
Israel Adesanya continues to make his mark in the MMA world with his exemplary performances in the UFC.
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Gerard Crispin
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