All of us have experienced the thrill of meeting a celebrity, but that encounter is often accompanied by a tincture of awkwardness. At times, the biggest of stars can get ‘starstruck’ themselves and fumble their words when confronted by their idols. Former UFC middleweight king Israel Adesanya has admitted to experiencing this firsthand! 

Izzy recently joined Joe Rogan on his Joe Rogan Experience podcast and narrated how he too, at times gets that ‘gushy’ feeling in his stomach. However, Adesanya surprisingly held his ground when he met ‘America’s last hope.’ What was the whole story? Let’s check it out.

Israel Adesanya reveals his state of mind while meeting ex-POTUS Donald Trump

In episode #164 of JRE MMA Show, Joe Rogan sat down with Israel Adesanya to discuss Izzy’s new documentary titled ‘Stylebender’. One of the topics they explored was the surprising reality that how even celebrities who have had uncountable fan interactions under their belt, cannot help but be nervous or overexcited when they meet their idols.  

Adesanya shared a particularly amusing anecdote about his encounter with hip-hop legend Eminem. He also revealed a hilarious exchange he had with the former US president, Donald Trump which showcased that even the ‘top brass’ can be caught ‘off-guard’ in unexpected situations. 

Izzy recalled when he spoke to Trump in Vegas during UFC 290. He explained the story and said, “I am better now. I think the coolest one I had was with Donald Trump. It was in Vegas at the fights. I haven’t even; the clip was one of the UFC things uh documentaries. I saw him and I was like oh America’s last hope what’s up? I dabbed him up and Dana was there just smiling. And then we were talking we’re just dabbing up and talking. He’s like ‘Enjoy your fight’ this and that right? And it wasn’t weird. As I can understand, I’m meant to be here.”

He casually addressed Trump as ‘America’s last hope’ and continued chatting up a storm with the president himself! It seems that Izzy is pretty ‘cool’ and knows how to hide his excitement and be suave while talking to a famous individual when he is in his element. He showed the same charm while also meeting ‘Slim Shady’ and soccer legend Cristiano Ronaldo. 

Israel Adesanya fulfills his biggest ‘stan’ moment

Francis Ngannou was making his boxing debut against Tyson Fury in October 2023, so the Nigerian native needed to support his close ally. This is exactly what ‘Izzy’ did! He was present in Riyadh to witness the match and surprisingly more than one of his wishes came true! He met the Grammy award-winning legend Eminem and could not help but post about it on X.

Izzy took to X to share a video of his epic handshake with the hip-hop ‘GOAT’. He captioned the video “I identify as Stan in this moment.” Adesanya also had the opportunity to meet soccer icon Cristiano Ronaldo, resulting in yet another hilarious encounter. While conversing with the former Real Madrid legend, Adesanya was taken aback by the superstar’s towering height. He recalled expressing genuine surprise that CR7 was as tall as he was. 

Adesanya’s starstruck moments weren’t limited to just Eminem and Ronaldo. Even the former WWE juggernaut Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and JRE podcast host, Joe Rogan had a similar impact on ‘The Last Stylebender’. Izzy has previously confessed to TalkSPORT that despite multiple encounters with ‘The Rock’, the gushy feeling has never completely faded away. 

He confessed and said, “The Rock, that will take a few meetings to go away. I still get starstruck by him, but I’m cool. I’m not going to jump him or anything. Even with Joe Rogan, when I first met Joe I was starstruck. It probably took two or three interactions until you humanize them to you. But The Rock will take a while to go away because it’s still The Rock!”

Additionally, Izzy admitted to occasionally struggling with imposter syndrome. Mind you! This is coming from a man who is perhaps one of the most confident talkers in the UFC. He revealed that he’s become adept at masking these sentiments, projecting an image of unwavering self-belief. The UFC icon has millions of fans who might feel the same way about him as he does for his idols. What do you think about this side of Izzy that you might not have known before?