Israel Adesanya currently reigns as the UFC middleweight champion. Unlike his brother in arms, UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman, Adesanya’s dominance and skill gets questioned once in a while. Alex Pereira has less than kind words to say about the Nigerian-born champ. 

Alex Pereira was one of the additions to the UFC roster in 2021. He made his UFC debut at UFC 268 and secured an explosive win. Now, the Brazilian has begun his linguistic samba at the current king of the middleweights. 

Pereira took shots at the Nigerian on Trocação Franca, a Portuguese-language podcast, and highlighted the Nigerian’s fear of him due to handing him his first and only KO loss ever. 

“He’ll run from me. Someone crazy for a fight will say, ‘I want this guy, I want to prove I’m better than him.’ He’s fooling his fan base. People should pressure him.” 

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Pereira continued, “The least he could do is say, ‘F*ck, I’ll show my fans that I’m the best and that’s why they follow me,’ but that’s not what he’s doing. He’s scared s***.”

Alex Pereira beat Israel Adesanya during their kickboxing days

Pereira’s comments on Adesanya don’t seem to be a random jab just to gain media traction. The tale of these two fighters goes a while back before the middleweight king was even in the UFC. 

The pair faced off during Glory Heroes 1, where Pereira took home the victory with a unanimous decision. To make matters worse for the middleweight champ, the pair faced off again during Glory Heroes 15 a year later. 

This was one of the most defining moments in Adesanya’s career as he was knocked out for the very first and only time. This could create a chain reaction of emotions and thoughts for the champ, knowing that a fighter that handed him his only KO loss is back to haunt him. 

Alex Pereira may have had only one fight in the UFC. However, his victory over the Nigerian, not once, but twice, is huge leverage for him to challenge the champ. 

Although, Adesanya is a much more experienced fighter now, fighting some of the best in the world and reigning victorious. If the pair were to fight now, who knows? Things could be different. 

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With a demon from the past coming to haunt Adesanya, it almost seems poetic for ‘The Last Stylebender’ to take up center stage and come on top as the victor, basking in the heroic light that he loves.