There’s a moment about 35 minutes into this insightful and revealing documentary where our protagonist, Israel Adesanya is in a therapy session with his ‘Mobile Possibility Manager’ aka therapist, Janet Redmond and she is asking him to dive deep into his emotions on why he wanted to fight to begin with, what drives him and as he does so he experiences firstly anger but after a while transitions to sadness and with some guidance from …… Izzy lets some tears go. He talks about his depression after becoming champion and Janet mentions that depression is where anger and sadness meet.
This is revelatory for him and for me.

It’s a beautiful moment that tells us much about the mindset and emotional intelligence of the UFC Middleweight Champion. He has a vulnerability that is so refreshing and he is unafraid to show it.

Israel Adesanya

It’s rare to see someone so famous be so open. To allow the cameras into a therapy session is brave. Yes, there can be cynical motives to this but this seems real. He started fighting to stop being bullied, to feel like he had power, and not feel helpless. This is a common reason for fighters and the drive to beat the old-school bully/bullies who used to pick on them. It creates a fire, an anger, and a sadness that always lies close to the surface, giving the fighters the edge they need to be the best. Izzy reached that goal. He became the champion of the world.

Let’s rewind for a second, in 2016 I was introduced to a cracking MMA drama series called Kingdom (I highly recommend it btw) by my friend and podcast (Punching Up-The Movie Podcast) co-host Adam Nightingale, this led me to watch a documentary called The Hurt Business, which takes a look at the rise of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA for the initiated) through the eyes of some of the sports top stars at the time, including the biggest draw in 2016, Ronda Rowsey. I mention this because it got me into MMA and the UFC and today, 7 years later I am still watching the big show.

In 2017, Israel ‘The Last Stylebender’ Adesanya, born in Nigeria and moved with his family to New Zealand when he was 10, was signed to the biggest organisation in MMA, and was 11-0 in professional MMA, no easy feat.
His first fight for the UFC came in February 2018 and he then went on a tear, he became the Middleweight Champion of the world a mere one and a half years later in October 2019.

Since joining the UFC he won his next 9 fights before going up a weight class from Middleweight to Light Heavyweight and was beaten by the champion at the time, Jan Blachowicz. He was still the Middleweight Champion and he defended his belt three more times.

I mention this because I watched all of his fights and always looked forward to seeing him in the Octagon. He was always outstanding, seeming to see every attack before it was launched by his opponent.

He is a star. He has charisma, skill and he loves anime (his nickname is taken from the anime Avatar: the Last Airbender).
He is a self-confessed geek, proud of it and boy can he fight.

This documentary directed by Zöe Macintosh shows the raw vulnerable side of Izzy and his relationship with New Zealand’s famous Auckland City Kickboxing Gym owner and trainer, Eugene Bareman.

Eugene Bareman

The film shows Adesanya’s roots in his love of dancing (Krumping, a powerful sometimes violent form of dance that expresses raw emotions and vulnerability) and his early encounters with school bullies which led him to the gym. There is a revealing scene where he visits his old school and is filmed Krumping in the bathroom. It is a powerful moment.

Israel Adesanya at his old school

The film shows how he is not afraid to embrace his feminine, sensitive side as well as his brutal masculine one. This is an example of a complete human being, the masculine and feminine working together like the yin-yang relationship. 

“I wear what I want,” he says. “My nails, they call them French tips, I like the way they look. Who says they’re just for girls. Pearls look good on my black skin, they pop off nicely. So, who the fuck said they are for girls? I wear what I want. For me, it’s being confident and standing in who I am. My body evoking a strong emotion in someone else to the point where they comment – they never say it to my face – that says a lot more about them than it does about me. The fact that it pisses people off, that’s the icing on the cake.” 

Izzy getting his nails did

He is unapologetic and unrelenting and this is refreshing and a welcome change to the hyper-masculine normality in the fight game.

Stylebender shows his journey through the UFC to superstardom, fame and all the trappings this ever-so-fickle companion can bring to the table. He is a work in progress, like us all and is unafraid to admit character failure and again vulnerability.

“Who is Israel Adesanya? I’m still trying to find that out,” Adesanya says. “I’m never just one person. I’m 33 now, when I was 12 I’d look at people my age and think: ‘they’re adults, they’ve got it figured out.’ When I was 18, I thought I’d be married with kids by age 24, and boy was I wrong. I’m 33 and I’m just trying to figure it out like everyone else. There’s no ‘who am I?’ I am who I am.” 

This is a top documentary, engaging, likeable and informative and not only for fans of MMA.

See it now.