UFC champion Israel Adesanya has turned down Hollywood offers to focus on his upcoming title defence against Alex Pereira.
Middleweight king Adesanya, 33, makes the sixth defence of his title this Saturday at UFC 281 against old rival Pereira, who defeated him twice in their kickboxing days. 'Poatan' won a controversial decision against Adesanya in 2016 and knocked him out in their rematch the following year, with the loss marking Adesanya's final fight in the ring.
'The Last Stylebender' has since become one of the UFC's biggest stars and Hollywood offers have unsurprisingly come his way amid his success. Whilst refusing to reveal the exact roles he's been offered, Adesanya insisted they don't matter because he will not let any acting ventures get in the way of his fighting career.
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“I’ve turned down a lot of things. There’s been some of the big ones [films], but I wanna do this [fight]," he said on The MMA Hour. "I’m loving this game. If it clashes with fighting, uh uh. You’d be surprised. I’m like, ‘Nah, sorry,’ and Tim [Simpson] would be like, ‘I know you’re gonna say no' but I’m like, ‘nah, I can’t.’ I would love to do it later on, I want to do some voiceover work, that's on the list."
Adesanya was offered a role in a Marvel film last year, but the UFC champion didn't have the appropriate visa to entertain the offer. The Nigerian-born New Zealander has cited the work of Andy Serkis and Benedict Cumberbatch as two of his biggest inspirations, whilst adding that he would love to take part in motion capture for films.
"They've been coming. They've been knocking. Later on, I'll dabble," he told TMZ Sports in March. "I really want to get into motion capture - for movies or for gaming - stuff that Andy Serkis does. He's like the GOAT at that. Benedict Cumberbatch, he did it for the dragon, that kind of stuff excites me. The good thing about motion capture is, I ain't gotta be there to do it. I don't have to go to Hollywood. You can do it at home and they just send it over."
Former two-weight champion Conor McGregor is the latest fighter to take up a Hollywood role as he recently completed filming for the remake of Road House, which is set to be released next year. McGregor also carried out motion capture for the Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare video game in 2016.
