In addition to the numerous other tattoos already on his body, Israel Adesanya recently added three new tattoos to his collection. A photograph reveals that the new tattoos are located on the neck, above the right eye, and below the left eye.
The Nigeria-born MMA fighter showcased his most recent tattoo collections through stories on Instagram but didn’t explain what the tattoos meant, so his followers were left guessing. The meaning of his tattoos was deciphered by many of his fans.
The majority of Adesanya’s previous tattoos are evidence of his love for cartoons and anime, two mediums that have had a significant impact on his life. Actually, the Avatar: The Last Airbender anime franchise served as inspiration for his nickname, “The Last Stylebender.”
One of the three new tattoos that the former UFC middleweight champion got is a bird, more specifically an eagle, and it is located on the back of his neck. Although he did not specify what kind of eagle he had tattooed on his neck, he did ask his followers to take a shot at it saying, ‘What does it mean ?’. Nevertheless, he responded to the person who guessed the bird tattoo as “Montu, the God of War.” The UFC fighter replied saying, ‘Well, now I know what it means.’
The UFC fighter’s new tattoo above his right eye has already caused a stir among his fans, but the one under his left eye is still a bit blurry in the photo he posted to his story. On Saturday, Adesanya shared a video of his new eye tattoos on Twitter, along with an uplifting caption.
”The old version of you must die before you come alive!” Adesanya captioned the tweet.
The old version of you must die before you come alive! đČ pic.twitter.com/b10RIQXZbj
— Israel Adesanya (@stylebender) January 15, 2023
The new tattoo on his right eye is an Arabic word that translates to “dragon.” The fact that he has a dragon emoji on his phone also illustrates that this is the intended meaning. A similar tattoo on the forehead of the naruto character Gaara served as inspiration for me as a lifelong anime watcher.