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When it comes to masculinity, Israel Adesanya epitomizes the term. 6ft 4in of raw aggression, he’s a former two-time UFC Middleweight champion, a belt he lost in September in a fight termed the biggest of opponent Sean Strickland‘s career. Very few of his opponents would question his manliness, whatever that means. That is unless they cast their minds back a couple of years when the Nigerian used his tough guy image to raise a huge question: what is masculinity? What does it really mean?
As he rained punches down on Rob Wilkinson at UFC 221, Adesanya was yet to win the UFC title. That victory got him the performance of the night, and his animal aggression and stamina stood firm. Just a month later, the world was turned on its head when Adesanyo, known as The Last Stylebender, did a photoshoot with New Zealand fashion designer Karen Walker, which started the transformation into a new type of MMA star.
Walker didn’t want the usual images of Adesanya, fists up and snarling, but instead wanted to explore a different side to the fighter and, in doing so, get people to ask questions, perhaps even of themselves. “It just felt like the right time to reassess the concept of modern masculinity,” she said. “When we talk about what it is to be a man now, it’s such a fluid concept. And yet, there’s also this wonderful permanence. We wanted to capture that. To be subversive and classic at the same time.”
The shoot fitted very much with the fighter’s moniker as a ‘Style Bender’ – but in a very literal sense. With flowers in his hair and sunglasses on his nose, he challenged stereotypes, but that’s something he has been comfortable with before and since. “I was never an athlete, but I was a dancer, and I was very creative at what I did,” he said, although Marvin Vettori might not have felt very creative as he was beaten on the Poirier Gaethjje undercard a month later. “Me falling in love with dancing and choreography helps me with my retention and muscle memory.”
Dancing, choreography, and flowers in his hair – the 34-year-old certainly asked a few questions of his fans at the time. The images show him wearing pink and white flowers in his hair, combined with soft-colored female jumpers, orange, sky blue, and pink. The biggest factor in the style change was women’s sunglasses, with one photo showing him in a pair of tortoiseshell frames, not unlike the Versace VE4440U models. Tortoiseshell tends to be a female color and design, which underlines the intent behind the shoot. Adesanya is often pictured in sunglasses, which is perhaps why they were used so prominently in the shoot. He’s usually sporting what would be classed as very masculine pairs: sleek rounded frames like the Ray-Ban RB3447 rounded metal glasses. When you’re used to seeing someone in one fashion, and they suddenly switch it up, it has a much stronger impact.
Did the shoot affect the Style Bender in any way? He remained undefeated for three years, almost to the day when finally Jan Blachowicz inflicted a defeat on him. He’s since lost twice more, although avenged his defeat against Alex Pereira with a win in April last year. He’s still certainly a big figure in MMA, but since March 2018, he hasn’t been spotted in pink, tortoiseshell, or with flowers in his hair.