Israel Adesanya is open to someday lacing up his boots and stepping into the colorful world of sports entertainment.
“The Last Stylebender” makes for one of the more unique nicknames in MMA, but it could make for an even better in-ring moniker for Adesanya, who is open to the idea of entering pro wrestling in the future. Adesanya, in many ways, would be a natural fit for this genre, with his comfort on the microphone and natural athleticism that could adapt to multiple venues. He’d certainly be an experiment worth investing in for a wrestling promotion like the WWE or AEW to attract crossover viewers and gain an edge on the competition.
The most recent former UFC champion to make this transition is UFC Hall of Famer Ronda Rousey, who was able to win WWE championship gold during her relatively brief tenure in the company. Rousey, of course, made this career change after suffering the first losses of her career. Adesanya is also coming off his first loss at the hands of Jan Blachowicz at UFC 259. So just how open is Adesanya to following in the footsteps of names like Ken Shamrock and Ronda Rousey? (h/t postwrestling.com)
“I’ve never spoken to them about it directly but I speak to a few — well a couple of guys from the Attitude Era, my era,” Adesanya told BT Sport prior to his UFC 259 fight against Blachowicz. “Never spoken about it but yeah, growing up, that was before I even knew what the UFC was or that it existed. That was definitely a dream of mine or path to I guess being where I’m at right now in the public eye was being a WWE superstar so yeah, definitely is a possibility.”
In addition to aforementioned names like Rousey and Shamrock, more active names in the sport of MMA have entertained the idea of a pro wrestling run, such as mainstream figures Paige VanZant, Daniel Cormier (commentating), Jon Jones, and Conor McGregor. Obviously, Adesanya’s current plan is to continue ruling over the UFC’s middleweight division and then moving on to reach other goals inside MMA; but as the former slogan once stated, “Anything can happen in the WWE.” So could we see a future Wrestlemania showdown between Roman Reigns and Israel Adesanya in the distant future? As they say in our world of MMA, “Never say never.”
Do you think Israel Adesanya would be a good fit in the world of professional wrestling?