Last month, Israel Adesanya joined former boxing heavyweight champion Mike Tyson on an episode of the Hotboxin' with Mike Tyson podcast.
'Izzy' was in a reflective mood as the two men spoke about the importance of being a role model. Tyson shared words of enlightenment with the UFC middleweight champion, which definitely hit home for the fighter.
In the latest video uploaded to his YouTube channel, 'The Last Stylebender' revisited the episode of Tyson's podcast. The vlog also included many clips of him talking to fans and taking photos with them. Adesanya even shared a touching story about the children of a friend of his. Their parents let them watch him fight because of the way he conducts himself inside and outside the cage:
"There's kids out there that I know personally and I know their dad... These kids who go to my gym, they look up to me. They really appreciate me. Their dad allows them to watch me with the way I carry myself and the way I speak and express myself. To them, I'm a role model. For me, I never want to let them down. I never want them to hang their head in shame."
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Adesanya admitted to hating the term 'role model', believing it is like someone is playing a character. Mike Tyson stepped in and shared some deep home truths and words of wisdom with the UFC middleweight champion:
"You wanna know why you feel like that? It's because you feel like you're not worthy of that. In your heart, you feel you're not worthy of being a role model... Who did you look up to and it made you wanna be a fighter? ['Izzy' said Anderson Silva] Well there you go... What's your definition of fake? Saying something to somebody and doing something else? You're not doing that. Why are you worrying about being a bad role model? You're not doing that."
Visibly stunned, 'Izzy' admitted that Tyson had caused a "paradigm shift" in his beliefs.
Watch Mike Tyson share his words of wisdom with Israel Adesanya here:
Israel Adesanya will defend his title against Jared Cannonier
Israel Adesanya and Jared Cannonier were finally given an official nod to fight by the UFC last week. The promotion announced that the middleweight champion would defend his title against the Texas native at UFC 276.
'The Last Stylebender' has successfully defended the belt four times and looks to chase Anderson Silva's divisional record of 10. This will be Cannonier's first chance at UFC gold. The American would have likely had an opportunity last year had he defeated Robert Whittaker. However, a loss to the 'Reaper' meant he had to start over.
Cannonier is currently on a two-fight win streak that includes impressive performances against Kelvin Gastelum and Derek Brunson. 'The Killa Gorilla' is sure to come into this fight confident he has a chance to dethrone Israel Adesanya.