Despite being one half of one of the most popular rivalries in combat sports, Alex Pereira isn’t hiding his admiration for Israel Adesanya.
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Adesanya is fighting for the middleweight title against Dricus du Plessis at UFC 305 on August 17. He was vocal about Pereira’s last title defense at UFC 303, boldly predicting him to lose on The MMA Hour on June 26 and mocking Pereira with edits of his UFC 287 KO loss on Twitter.
Chama 🗿 pic.twitter.com/4YunnsKFEo
— Israel Adesanya (@stylebender) June 30, 2024
In his July 12 Youtube video, Pereira was amicable in his response to Adesanya’s scorn:
“They [fans] asked me about Adesanya and Du Plessis,” Pereira said. “I said I don’t see Adesanya losing. Just because he said that about me doesn’t mean I’ll say it back. … I hope he wins because he has a beautiful story. I think he has to continue his story.
“I’m here, supporting him, I already fought him, not going to say he should lose. I’m not mad at him, no grudges.”
An Adesanya-Pereira UFC trilogy is closer than it seems. Adesanya would have to win the middleweight title and get the UFC’s permission to fight up at light heavyweight to challenge Pereira for double-champ status. Not only would it be the ultimate high-stakes finale for the two kickboxers, it would be one of the biggest fights the UFC could make.
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