- My next estential I like to have-
- [Director] It's essential.
- Essential, essential, essential.
What am I saying?
[rolls tongue]
- [Director] Estential.
- Estential.
Why the [beep] do I keep doing that?
Ensten, exten, esten [laughing].
[upbeat music]
What's up GQ?
This is Israel Adesanya and these
are my 10 essentials.
Take one.
[upbeat music continues]
First essential is simple.
My AirPods.
'Cause I've been going to public gyms lately
to kind of get my power back.
And sometimes I might not even
have anything going on in there.
Might just be for show,
but it's to say like,
"I'm busy, don't talk to me."
'Cause I wanna get my work in.
So that's where this comes in also.
Yeah. I love dancing,
I like hearing good tunes and music,
podcasts, audio books.
So this keeps me, I guess, entertained.
Next essentials,
slides.
Now these, I like them 'cause they're lightweight.
I wear this anywhere.
I've wore this to function.
I wore these to the club.
But back in the day they used to be like,
"Oh wrong shoes,"
If I even wear like, you know, the nicest kicks on,
like trainers or whatever.
And it's like, "Oh sorry, wrong shoes.
You need dress shoes."
You know?
But now I can get in with these on
because they know you're gonna spend money
and they know if you are there
you're gonna turn up.
You're gonna bring the crowd.
I just like it 'cause it's low key,
but also very stylish.
I can drip in these.
Yeah. Easy.
Well next essential.
My Engage MMA gloves.
I like having these because they clean,
the work I get from them is phenomenal.
I feel like I don't hurt my sparring partners as much.
As much.
I love training.
I love working.
I like the, the grind.
So I've got these for MMA training,
but then I've also got these gloves
that I still haven't thrown away
because the quality.
These gloves have gotten me through the last
five fights, I believe.
Yep. And these were the prototypes as well.
As you can see there,
they've been through the ringer.
These are my 12 ounce Engage gloves.
I don't use these to spar cause we're only allowed to spar
with sixteens and up.
But these I used to hit pads
so I can crack the pads with the bag
and really feel the power, you know?
They have a lot of history and I just feel like,
yeah, it's synonymous with me.
So yeah, these are my babies, my Engage gloves.
And next up my crystals.
Don't ask me what each crystal does.
I like how pretty they are.
I like how they feel.
I've got the rose quartz,
the obsidian.
I've got the pretty purple one [laughing],
but I like charging them.
And I like having them around, especially when I travel
just 'cause they feel like, I don't know,
a piece of the earth comes with me.
I don't know how to feel-
I don't know how to describe it.
It's just a feeling, but that's powerful.
Feelings are powerful.
And people might try and like,
dismiss them as just like,
oh woohoo magic or whatever.
I mean there's things in this world we don't understand yet.
And if you feel it, your intuition speaks volumes.
You have to listen to that sometimes.
So yeah, I like having crystals around.
Next one,
my championship ring.
The spiral was inspired by my navel tattoo
which is from two of my favorite animes,
Avatar and Naruto.
Yeah, that's the seal.
And then I think these are the elements,
the four elements.
That's what I have on my navel as well.
The seal of the nine tailed fox.
And then the Ocean and Moon Spirit from Avatar
but still has to do with the four elements.
So it's got the UFC emblem,
and then, it's got my name on it.
Adesanya.
Powerful last name.
If you know the history of the Yoruba people
and even the prefix of the name, Ade,
has a lot of power.
A lot of Royal blood tied to it.
So yeah, I feel like this ring is powerful.
I got this ring.
I got gifted this ring after my dismantling
of Robert Whittaker at UFC 243
in front of 57,127 people.
It was a magical moment for me.
One of the greatest moments in my career.
Still to this date,
the biggest attendance in UFC history,
So I'm glad to hold this kind of record.
But having this is always just a nice reminder,
who I am.
[lips smacking]
Yeah, I always wonder what it's gonna be like
to hit someone in the tube,
but fortunately I don't have to find out 'cause you know,
I'm a nice guy [laughing].
My next essential item,
good lip balm.
You need this, especially with lips like mine.
'Cause even in the wintertime it gets real cold, real dry.
You don't wanna be that guy talking to someone
and your lips look like
the cracked floors of a desert.
So you wanna make sure you have a moist,
you know, you might be dressed to the nines,
look beautiful, whatever.
But then if you have cracked lips,
it just kind of looks like, ugh.
It's just a little pet peeve for me
but I just never want anyone to experience that with me.
I mean I'm 32.
I like to look after myself.
I have to make sure I'm well kept.
I'm not one of these blokes who likes to just,
ah, soap on a rope.
And then by the time they're 40, they look like they're 60.
You'll never see me without one of these.
Most times.
My next essential item I like to have on me,
my Engage chain from my boy, Ash Belcastro.
And this chain is a gift from him.
One of the most beautiful gifts I've ever gotten.
For me it's not just about the way it looks.
It's about the symbol.
'Cause this brand Engage,
from where we started and to where we are now.
It's a beautiful story.
Having this chain always feels like I can represent my brand
and represent the people who fucked wit' me
before anyone else started to jump on board.
Yeah, it's it's near and dear to my heart as you can see.
But yeah, it's something that I,
I wear proudly.
Now my next essential item I like to have on me,
is my timepiece.
My latest timepiece.
I think it's called the Presidential.
But it's a Rolex
that I copped about a week ago.
[singing] We could go, we could go, we could go.
I didn't know how you get Rolexes to be honest,
'cause I'm new to this.
But I always knew when I was coming up in this game,
I was like, it was always something
that rappers talked about.
All athletes that reach a certain milestone
always get a Rolex.
'Cause a lot of people work their lifetime
to get one of these or even half of one of these.
So for me to be able to walk into a store and be like,
"What kind of Rolexes do you have?"
And he's like, "Oh, well I have these,
if you want to have a look."
I was like, "Sure, I'll have a look."
I went in there, had a look, and I fell in love.
Those who know,
they look at you different.
And I dress like a bum most of the time,
and I can see the way they treat me is different.
So yeah, I like having this timepiece
just to kind of like reflect on
where I'm at in life.
My next essential item will be,
my Bluetooth speaker.
You never know when you wanna create a vibe.
Like with this,
that's a vibe for myself.
But with this,
that's a vibe for everyone.
I have a few [kissing] playlists on my Spotify.
And I know how to curate the kind of vibe I like,
depending on what I'm doing or what mood we're in.
We might be in a hotel room, you know,
after party and then kick ons.
You know, everyone likes a good kick ons.
[clicks tongue]
You know?
If you know, you know.
Having one of these,
yeah, it's a whole vibe there.
And my next essential item,
the real star of the show,
- [in announcer voice] Jeffrey, [indistinct] Jeff Sainlar.
[making crowd noises]
- Thanks for the hype, thanks for the hype.
- Oh my God. Jeff!
- I'll ask you,
so how long have we been, I guess acquainted?
- Let's say 2016?
- 2016?
- Thailand?
- Yeah.
So Jeff's been stalking me, watching me
with that thing over there and accumulating footage
for a documentary I'm gonna be putting out one day.
He likes to call himself my Jane Goodall [laughing].
If you know who Jane Goodall is, you'll know,
but he feels like he's my Jane Goodall
or David Attenborough, if you will.
'Cause he just watches me as I live my life
in the wilds of wherever the fuck I am.
- I think it's important for athletes
and to document their lives and stuff
for their brand to grow and content as king,
as many of y'all see.
So I dunno if I'm that essential.
I'm just kinda along for the ride, just to witness-
- [whispering] He's replaceable, very replaceable.
- I know too many secrets.
- Sometimes it's hard for me to open up to certain people,
but because he's been a friend of mine for a long time,
I'm able to just be myself around him
and he can actually capture that
without me being, you know,
filmed by strangers I guess.
Yeah, and I have the mask on.
- [Director] You can tell him to get out of here.
- [beep] off. Get out.
- Thank God.
- No one likes you anyway, get out.
That's a wrap.
[hands slapping]
Cut.
[upbeat music]