It is always heart-warming to see former rivals mend fences and develop genuine admiration and respect for each other. This is why it was so great to see Alex Pereira rooting for Israel Adesanya for his UFC Saudi Arabia clash against Nassourdine Imavov.

Of course, the Dagestan born French middleweight shocked the world by downing ‘Izzy’ in the second round with a hard overhand right, and stopping him with ground and pound. Adesanya was outraged at referee Marc Goddard stepping in and calling the bout off as he was turtled up on the ground, but it was too late.

To be fair to Adesanya, some would say that Goddard does have a knack for early stoppages. Jiri Prochazka feels that his first loss to Alex Pereira at UFC 295 was down to Goddard stopping the fight too early. Not to mention Dominick Cruz‘s veritable crusade against the referee for stopping his UFC 249 Henry Cejudo clash with two seconds to go in the second round.

But that doesn’t take away one bit from ‘Poatan’, whose rivalry with ‘Izzy’ goes back to their kickboxing days, being in Adesanya’s (figurative) corner. The light heavyweight champ, in fact, uploaded a video of him at what seems like his gym, watching Adesanya make his walk-out for the Imavov fight.

“Let’s go Izzy #UFCSaudiArabia,” Pereira wrote along with the clip in case anyone had any doubts who he was supporting in the fight.

Of course, Pereira must be heart-broken at seeing his former arch-rival and the man who was (at least partly) responsible for him getting into MMA get beaten in such a humiliating fashion. Adesanya losing to Imavov also somewhat harms ‘Poatan’s middleweight legacy. After all, the Brazilian light heavyweight champ did get knocked out cold by Adesanya just two years ago. But there is one pertinent question on everyone’s mind.

What next for Israel Adesanya?

The first thing Israel Adesanya can expect for sure is that he will now be called washed-up, past his prime, and not good enough to compete at the highest level anymore by fans. The Kiwi-Nigerian middleweight champ turns 36 this year, so he can expect being called too old and having lost his lightning quick reflexes and legendary speed too.

With this loss to Imavov, who was ranked #5 coming into the bout, Adesanya will also probably slide down the rankings from #2, but may still find himself in the top-five. But what about his next opponent? Well, for the time being, ‘Izzy’ will probably serve as the gatekeeper to the very top of the division.

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#5 ranked Caio Borralho would be a good fight for Adesanya, as would be the winner of the upcoming Brendan Allen vs. Anthony Hernandez clash. Then there are a bunch of rematches against former rivals like Marvin Vettori, Jared Cannonier, or Paulo Costa that could be made, but that is unlikely except for Costa. A dark horse to watch out for is Sharaputdin Magomedov, who wants to fight ‘Izzy’ and lost to Michael ‘Venom’ Page on the same card. Who do you think Israel Adesanya’s next fight should be against?