Israel Adesanya, from time to time, will pick up his phone and call Dwayne Johnson.
“But only when I need to,” he says.
And with good reason.
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“He’s influenced me ever since I was a young kid,” Adesanya explains of that Hollywood megastar whose rise to fame really began during wrestling’s Attitude Era.
“Way back when I would look at him on screen and just smile.
“Smile at his jokes, at his trash talk, at all his electrifying moves. I once broke my f … ing arm trying to do a moonsault off the couch.
“So there’s still that little kid in me now that, whenever I see or talk with him, it’s like ‘oh s…, I’m cool with The Rock’.
“Young Izzy would be trippin’ out.
“If you ever told him, he’d be tripping the f… out.
“Because as much as he is Dwayne Johnson, he’s still The Rock to me.”
Which is why, only days out from arguably the most important fight of his hyped career at UFC 287, Adesanya is now drawing energy from each man – both his friend and that famed character who rose up to become the biggest name in sports entertainment.
Call it something a trait for The Last Stylebender, right?
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Indeed, while many fighters seek inspiration only from the real world, Adesanya openly draws from anime, from film, even from that most famed of squared circles.
Which brings us to Sunday’s headliner against Alex Pereira.
That hyped Brazilian warrior who, apart from having bloodlines tracing back to the Amazon, or having twice beat Adesanya in kickboxing, then eventually chased him all the way across to the UFC — and took his middleweight crown via shock KO.
Which, truly, may just be the greatest hunt down since an oversized shark chased Amity Island’s Brody family all the way to the Bahamas in Jaws 4.
Importantly, it also explains why, just days ago, Adesanya took to his socials and posted an old hype clip for WrestleMania 17. One involving both The Rock and his own arch rival, Stone Cold Steve Austin.
At the time of said showdown, Rock was down two-zip in WrestleMania headliners against the Texas Rattlesnake. And no lock to get it done in the trilogy, either.
Yet at the end of that now famed promo, and after a run of spectacular highlight reel moments between the pair — as Limp Bizkit’s My Way plays in the background — The Rock finally speaks.
“I will give you every drop of sweat,” he says of the impending showdown.
“Every drop of blood, every ounce of energy I have … you are going to get the absolute best of The Rock at WrestleMania”.
Words which, some 20 years later, Adesanya found synergy with this week.
Especially given WrestleMania hasn’t only been on again in recent days, or the WWE been bought out by the same Endeavour company which owns the UFC, but because The Rock is a guy from whom he has always drawn from.
“So I’ve been talking with my brother this week, with my manager … we’ve been talking wrestling all week,” he said.
“And then, I saw that clip come on.
“Which really is the greatest highlight I’ve ever seen from that era.
“And just the way it all led up to that last moment, all led up to what The Rock said, I really resonated with that.
“Felt that.”
Unsurprisingly given their love of entertaining, Adesanya and Johnson have been friends for some time now, with the Kiwi having even been sent meals by the megastar after making weight in fight week.
After beating Marvin Vettori at UFC 263, Adesanya also gave a nod to his idol by asking, prior, for The Rock’s theme song to be played if he stood, victorious, in the Octagon afterwards.
At which point, microphone in hand, he stared down a camera lens, grinning: “Hey Rocky, you didn’t know about this did you? The Rock Says …”
Asked about the moment now, Adesanya says: “He (Johnson) and I talk on and off, and leading up to that week we’d talked a little bit.
“So for that fight, I felt like the People’s Champ.”
So as for playing his music?
“I always like to have both a walkout song and a walk off song,” he continues.
“I don’t think any other fighter, or any other champion does that.
“But that was my little wink at him, and he received it. Appreciated it.”
So what chance now with both the UFC and WWE under the one umbrella, you’ve thought about crossing across both promotions.
“Definitely,” Adesanya says.
At the same time?
“I’ve always wanted to be a WWE superstar,” he says. “That was the childhood dream.
“As I said, I broke my arm doing moonsaults off the couch, doing all sorts of s…
“So yeah, it’s on the list.
“But right now I’m focused on competing in the UFC.
“And that’s what I will keep doing. Movies, the WWE, that all comes after fighting.”
Asked if Johnson was aware of the role he was playing in his career, and this fight specifically, Adesanya said he was.
The 33-year-old added that, over his career, he had also drawn inspiration from many of wrestling’s most beloved figures like Austin, Rey Mysterio, even the Hardy boys.
“They were crazy, man,” he grins. “And I’m crazy too.”
