'Fans want to see me': The Kiwi set to explode at UFC Melbourne
By Dan Hooker
Israel Adesanya and I have a slightly different kind of relationship. It’s a friendly rivalry, but in the best possible sense.
We’re brutally honest with each other. If I muck up a technique, he’s going to tell me. Or if he’s on the bike and I don’t think he’s giving it 100 per cent, I’m going to tell him. We really sink the boot into each other as well, to make sure we get a response.
I’ve learned a lot from him outside the cage, about self-belief and confidence. In any situation, he’s always just going to be himself.
He’s a smart guy. He chooses to keep his filter off at all times, because that’s what is real to him. And that’s what fans love him. They know that if they ask him a question, they’re going to get an honest answer.
I think that’s where a lot of the jealousy from other fighters comes in. They change their personalities to get ahead and then see Israel being himself, having fun, and he’s still having more success than they are.
I think as a sport we’ve got to stop building up all these fake characters. If everybody could just be real, we’d be a lot better off.
Interestingly enough, seeing as they’re fighting each other, Rob Whittaker is another one of those people that has stayed true to himself, and I think he has also been subjected to a lot of jealousy because of it.
Rob has always just done his own thing. He’s a family guy and he doesn’t try to be anything else. People are always prodding him to say something out of character and I think it’s quite cool how he plays it laidback and sticks to his guns.
He’s world champion, he’s won great fights and earned people’s respect. He doesn’t need to be anyone he’s not.
I think there’s a great rivalry between Australia and New Zealand in sport, whether that’s in rugby, league, netball, cricket, whatever. But in MMA, I think we all support each other.
The fans support each other and the fighters support each other, like when Alex Volkanovski came to train with us at City Kickboxing. It’s because we all see the bigger picture.
Australia and New Zealand, we’re both trying to take over the world and we know that we’re better when we work together.
Coming through the lower ranks our country’s fighters go up against each other, and the cream rises to the top. Then regardless of whether it’s an Aussie or a Kiwi that makes the elite level, we all get behind that person because at the end of the day, both countries have played a big part in getting them to the world stage.
A guy that liked a fight
I wouldn’t say I got in a lot of fights when I was a young bloke. Or rather, I didn’t get in a lot of fights compared to the group of guys I surrounded myself with.
We all came up with that bravado, wanting to challenge each other and prove that we were tough. That’s the Auckland culture. Being a guy that liked a bit of a fight, I thoroughly enjoyed myself growing up in that environment. But it wasn’t until I got into MMA that I found a sense of direction.
That really started when I went to watch a friend of mine, Steve Warby, in his first MMA fight. I still train with Steve to this day, but back then he was the toughest guy in our area. He was someone I looked up to and the first of my friends to really take MMA and jiu-jitsu seriously.
He knocked the guy out in about 20 seconds. I felt the rush of the crowd and the energy in the room, and I just wanted to be a part of that.
From that moment, dabbling in a bit of MMA wasn’t going to be enough for me. I wanted to feel what Steve felt. I wanted to be the one to excite the crowd.
I definitely wasn’t in it for the money, because back then there weren’t any Kiwis in the UFC. There weren’t really any Kiwis making a living off MMA at all.
That’s something I never expected to happen for my generation. A lot of my early fights in New Zealand were for free. The idea of being a professional mixed martial artist was unfathomable for me at 18 or 19.
Now, I’m about to be a part of the biggest event in UFC history. It’s incredible how far we’ve come!
That’s the Auckland culture. Being a guy that liked a bit of a fight, I thoroughly enjoyed myself growing up in that environment.
I can’t wait for UFC 243 in Melbourne. With Al Iaquinta, I got exactly what I wanted: a high-ranked guy and a stadium packed with 60,000 fans.
This is an opportunity I’ve earned. Three of my last four fights have been first-round knockouts. There aren’t many people in this company that can say that.
Fans want to see me fight. That’s something that comes naturally with my style. Al is someone that loves to come forward as well, so I think we’re going to get in there and go after it.
There’s plenty I’ll have to watch out for. He’s a good boxer with dangerous hands, a good wrestler as well, if he chooses to shoot in for the takedown.
But I’m happy to mix things up. I haven’t had the opportunity to show my ground game and submissions at the top of the lightweight division, so I’d be keen to test that out in this fight if that’s how it goes.
I’m very optimistic about what I can achieve in the UFC. There used to be 10,000 people between me and the world title. To have 13 people ahead of me now, I feel like the belt is a very attainable goal.