When you hear about a Nigerian-born Kiwi, who is Dana White’s new favourite fighter in the UFC, you naturally assume you’re going to hear the standard hard-luck tale: the tough childhood that sculpted the perfect cage warrior.

And while Israel Adesanya has had his fair share of obstacles in a 29-year journey to the pinnacle of his sport; to focus on only the hardship would be to miss the real story.

It would be to miss the quirky guy who has over 900 photos of tiny houses on his phone, the kid who came home to watch the Tyra Banks Show every day after school — and now bases his retirement plans on the former supermodel — or the intellectual, who will quote Charlamagne Tha God and the bible in the same conversation.

To miss the artist who thinks — with a better voice — he would have given Jason Derulo and Usher a serious run for their money, and to miss the mature man, who has learned from past mistakes, and now has an attitude towards life that is genuinely admirable.

The point is, Adesanya is a bunch of stories — the burger, with all the add-ons, that shouldn’t work, but does anyway.

SO, WHERE TO START?

In less than twelve months, Adesanya (15-0-0) has gone from UFC debutant to the sixth-ranked contender in the middleweight division, and someone who looks closer to a title shot than really should be possible.

He’s been inside the Octagon four times this year, and most recently, ‘The Last Stylebender’, his nickname a reference to Avatar — the cartoon, not the big blue aliens — defeated Derek Brunson at UFC 230 in New York.

Adesanya was near flawless; showcasing his elite striking, and impressive takedown defence in a first round demolition job.

It was his biggest test; the last step before the MMA world — who were waiting with bated breath and fresh ink — could give him their stamp of approval; the license he needed to stay on the fast-track to UFC stardom.

He was already the crowd favourite on foreign soil, and the win saw UFC president Dana White tell reporters that the “kid is the future”, as the organisation looked to continue to push the nugget of ANZAC gold, who fits their marketing strategy to a tee.

Some guys can fight. Some can talk. The ones that really go big? They do both.

“From the minute I saw this kid I was like, ‘Holy shit, this is going to be good, I like this’”, White said in New York.

“Then you hear him talk, and I like that too. He’s the whole package.”

He probably won’t admit it, but Adesanya heard the full Dana wrap. He was eating cold pizza in the back of the media room, one earphone in, playing it cool. Like always.

Israel Adesanya dances to the beat of his own drum. Source: AP

THE IZZY EXPERIENCE

Spend enough time with him, and you quickly become a fan. He’s just one of those guys.

The kind of guy that had every journalist smiling, and one particularly invested New Zealand journo sitting next to me, flailing in celebration as Herb Dean called a stop to his beatdown of perennial middleweight contender Brunson.

He’s comfortable in his own skin and kept in check by the things he holds important. But it wasn’t always that way.

Adesanya had a comfortable upbringing in Nigeria; the oldest of five kids — two brothers and two sisters — and parents who were both successful in the business world. So when he moved to Whanganui, New Zealand as a young boy, he was very quickly hit with a cruel reality.

“Obviously I knew I was black, but I never knew I was black until I was in the Western world,” Adesanya told foxsports.com.au.

“I never knew it was a problem.”

But where he grew up, it was. Aside from racial tensions, Adesanya was small and skinny as a kid; not exactly a recipe for success on the rugby field.

He could dance, though.

“Dancing got me street cred,” Adesanya explained; boasting about the two years in a row he won the high school talent contest. He still dances now — pulling off the Shaku Shaku dance after his win New York, much to the delight of his African fans — after only recently overcoming a self-diagnosed six-year ‘dancer’s block’.

But things never really came easy for him in Whanganui.

Not much changed after high school. He was still unhappy; still searching for some sort of meaning. He’d started fighting, but was yet to take it seriously.

Adesanya says a late-night brawl outside a nightclub, while defending a friend, was the final straw. Two months later he packed up — leaving his parents and a graphic design degree behind — and moved to Auckland, rocking up at his now-coach Eugene Bareman’s gym.

“I’d train at like 6am, and then I’d shower and I’d walk to work because it was two blocks away,” Adesanya explained.

“Towards the end, in 2013, I remember there were some days I’d be walking to work and I’d feel this heavy burden on me, and I would just start tearing up in the street.”

Nevertheless, he’d jump in the elevator, go up to level 12, and do what needed to be done — a stale data entry job — until he could make a living doing what he loved.

‘NEW LEVELS, NEW DEVILS’

It’s just one of Adesanya’s one-liners. He’s seemingly got one for every occasion.

From the plastic toys he manufactured and kept under his bed ‘til he was 15, to his freestyle dancing past, he’s always been creative —and just a little bit different.

He likes to use ‘new levels, new devils’ to describe the fresh challenges that arise every time he takes another step towards the top.

So, after carving out a decorated kickboxing career, which saw Adesanya cement a reputation as one of the most terrifying strikers on earth, the next step became clear: The UFC.

He knew his success would come with the usual hate. He puts it down to the tall poppy syndrome rife in ANZAC culture. And he’s got a point — Adesanya is legitimately a bigger star in the US than he is down here.

“I leave a lot of them on Facebook [as friends], just so they can see how I’m living now, cause I’m petty like that,” Adesanya joked.

He’s been told he isn’t the humble star to represent New Zealand; but he’s also not trying to be. His ability to stand out — both in and outside of the Octagon — is the reason he’s so likeable on a global scale.

TINY HOUSES AND HIS PACK MEMBERS

A tiny house is a living space usually 100-400 square feet in size.

It’s got all the essentials — but only the essentials — and if you’ve heard of the concept before, it was probably from your mum who saw it in some home improvement magazine.

For Adesanya, though, tiny houses are a genuine obsession.

“In my tiny house folder, I have over 900 photos,” an excited Adesanya told me while reaching for his phone.

He refuses to get Pinterest, despite everyone telling him to do so, and admits his “YouTube folder for Tiny Kingdom would probably have 100-200 clips.”

The goal is simple: “To eventually have this big piece of land, [my own] tiny house, and when I have a family eventually, I’m going to have a container home.

“You can make them so f***ing majestic on the inside and outside. And it’s durable. I’m going to do that, I’m going to have a man-made lake, and I’m just going to have my tiny house right at the back, and that’s going to be my little man cave.

“The piece of land will be somewhere I can have animals. My pack members: A Berkshire pig, I want a cow, and I want dogs.”

‘YOU LEAVE THE GAME BEFORE THE GAME LEAVES YOU’

Adesanya wants to own his own production company, work on motion capture movies, and obviously make millions. He wants to be the best fighter in the world, but also a fighter for the people; someone who “changed the culture.”

“I’m not going to change the world, but I can show people there’s a better way to live,” Adesanya said.

“You know, in your own skin, there’s a better way to approach life. Just be nice. People sometimes are just cruel. Now, because I know myself, and I’ve done a lot of self-searching; I can see it in other people.”

And while he hadn’t put much thought into calling time on his career — there’s a long way to go — he of course, had a go-to reference point.

“Retirement’s going to be retiring on top like Tyra Banks; you leave the game before the game leaves you.”

Where in the world that came from?

“I used to watch that show [the Tyra Banks show] religiously; record it during the day on iSky, come back home, watch it, and learn from it.

“Probably why I’m so in touch with my feminine side; she taught me a lot.”

WHAT NOW?

Adesanya is rarely satisfied, and wants to take the belt that currently belongs to Australian Rob Whittaker in a fight Dana White told foxsports.com.au was “inevitable.”

It’s probably too soon, and there’s more ‘deserving’ guys in the division, but it’s hard to argue there’s anyone more exciting. It’s a division that’s needed a spark for a while now, and got a big ol’ surge when Adesanya burst onto the scene.

While ANZAC mixed martial arts continues to grow — spearheaded by a champion in Whittaker — Adesanya might be the first to give it a recognisable voice.