"I've played a part in the rise of anime in sports" - Israel Adesanya reacts to his voiceover for popular anime series 'Baki Hanma'

UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya has taken his involvement in anime culture to the next level.

It's no secret that 'The Last Stylebender' is a self-professed "geek" as is evident from several anime-related references he has made inside the octagon. However, his love for anime does not stop there. The UFC champ recently did voiceover work for Netflix's anime series Baki Hanma.

In a video uploaded to Adesanya's YouTube channel, the MMA superstar reacted to his portrayal of Chamomile Lessen, one of the characters in the show. In the video, Adesanya talked about his love for anime and how much it means to him to get involved in the project.

"For me, this is one thing that has been synonymous with me in the UFC now," Adesanya said. "I feel like I've played a part – humble brag – I've played a part in the rise of anime in sports over the last few years. I felt I have 'cause, just like I said, I express myself authentically. Whoever f***s with me, f***s with me, and if you don't, you don't. And those who knew about anime, they're like, 'Damn! This is a real ninja.' This is what every anime fan tries to emulate."

Adesanya also revealed that he didn't hesitate to jump on the opportunity to lend his voice to an anime character. The Kiwi fighter added that doing voiceover work is up in his alley as he's "good at different accents, good at different tones, different languages, different vibes."

Check out Israel Adesanya's reaction below:

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Israel Adesanya reveals he went to animation school

Israel Adesanya revealed that there's a parallel universe in which he isn't a world-class fighter, but is instead an animator. Apparently, Adesanya went to design school to study animation. According to the 32-year-old:

"I went to design school to study animation just because I wanted to be able to create," said Israel Adesanya. "But, to be honest, I went there too early 'cause I wasn't mature enough to be able to handle the workload that was required to pass. So I failed a lot and it got to a point where I just decided, 'Do I want to keep doing this or do I want to pursue fighting?'"

Obviously, Adesanya decided to go all-in on combat sports and it's reasonable to say that he made the right call.