"Why Ace is wearing Luffy's hat?" - Fans react to UFC featherweight's victory celebration, inspired by One Piece

A victorious UFC combatant recently tipped his cap, literally and figuratively, to One Piece.

This transpired on the recent UFC Fight Night card headlined by Amanda Ribas taking on Rose Namajunas in the top of the marquee bout.

Meanwhile, Fernando Padilla finished Luis Pajuelo with a first-round D'arce choke and then donned a familiar-looking straw hat before remarking in his post-fight speech:

"I'm the king of the pirates!"

Several Instagram users commented on a post from @mugiwaraplus addressing this moment with many enthusiastically recognizing it as an anime reference.

@azzu_hu_re__ said:

"Why Ace is wearing Luffy's hat?"

@brendenmcoleman stated:

"Being an anime fan is the best base for combat sports"

@seanleifson quipped:

"I need that exact straw hat. Does anyone know where I can buy it?"

[Images Courtesy: @mugiwaraplus comment section on Instagram]

Check out the Fernando Padilla nod to One Piece inside the UFC octagon below:

---

Previous anime references by UFC Fighters

Israel Adesanya is a former two-time UFC middleweight champion and is also a well-documented anime aficionado.

'Naruto' and 'The Last Airbender' are two shows in particular that the 34-year-old has proven to be quite fond of.

'The Last Stylebender' also got his famous nickname from the world of anime and shed light on this when he previously stated:

"I coined that name from the TV series The Avatar. I just related so much to the message and the characters in the show. Aang, the lead in the show, [...] I had to realize that he was an avatar by mastering all the elements, and I feel the same way in this realm like I have to master all the elements in martial arts to realize that I'm the Avatar of this world."

Tattoos on Adesanya's body also reflect his anime passion as he has ink featuring Toph from 'Avatar: The Last Airbender', the ocean and moon spirit from the same series, as well as the Nine-Tails seal from 'Naruto'.

Conversely, Jon Jones has shown disdain to those who enjoy anime, initially as a retaliatory effort toward Adesanya himself. Back in 2020, 'Bones' tweeted:

"I'm going to the next anime convention and slapping the first 10 people I see."

Despite the reigning UFC heavyweight champion's thoughts, many fighters do count themselves as fans of anime though. Former flyweight title challengers Roxanne Modafferi and Alex Caceres are just a couple of examples of this fandom crossover.