Alex Pereira and Israel Adesanya’s rivalry is not like any other—it transpired through the path of two different combat sports. Both fighters competed in Glory Kickboxing and had their first encounter in 2016 when ‘Poatan’ beat ‘Izzy’ via decision. They fought again in 2017, where Pereira knocked Adesanya out cold. Alex Pereira even extended his winning streak in MMA by finishing Israel Adesanya by TKO at UFC 287. It was only at UFC 287, when Adesanya was able to exact revenge for all the three times he lost to Pereira, and he did it emphatically. After baiting ‘Poatan’, Adesanya let out a counter for four punches that floor Pereira, before sending him to the shadow-realm with hammer-fists from hell.

What followed was an invisible set of arrows ‘The Last Stylebender’ unleashed on an unconscious ‘Poatan’. What’s more? ‘Izzy’ even got revenge on Pereira’s son, by mocking his father with a similar gesture to what ‘Poatan Jr.’ did all those years ago. But then everything changed—the most heated rivals became friends! Finally in 2025, at UFC 312, the duo was seen together sitting and chatting away side by side. Alex Pereira even extended an invitation to Israel Adesanya to train together, highlighting their evolving relationship.

Since then, Adesanya has defended his past rival as he did recently while speaking to Henry Cejudo and Kamaru Usman on the Pound 4 Pound podcast. ‘Triple C’ compared Pereira to the ascent of other fighters to the UFC title shot and criticized his “short” and “easy” path. His argument was that Alex Pereira didn’t fight middleweights such as Jared Cannonier, Marvin Vettori, or someone like Yoel Romero, who could have tested him with their grappling abilities.

He said, “He beat Sean Strickland, boom there you go, he fought Israel. He ended up winning a light heavyweight because he did have a name, he also kind of cut the line because of these (shows his fists). He fought the Polish power, beat him, and then f—king became champ. So, because of you, he didn’t go to that crazy ass f—king line.  Like could you go through that crazy a— f—king line and become champion, that’s the difference. This is why I respect guys like Vasiliy Lomachenko.”

However, ‘The Last Stylebender’ came to the rescue and explained, “I understand, but I hate it cause I did have to go through that to become champion. And regardless, he has got the fast track, but he proved he is a champion, he proved he is a superstar, he proved he can bring, you know, attention, and eyes to his game just by being himself.”

That is when Usman chimed in with the Brazilian star’s classic phrase—‘Chama’. Adesanya acknowledged how that one line became Pereira’s trademark, and compared it to the one-liner by the Guardians of the Galaxy character Groot, who only says, “I am Groot,” to whatever conversation is going on. So it seems like all is good between the former champions. But there is one man that Israel Adesanya dislikes in the division, and you wouldn’t be surprised as to who it is. Let’s find out.

Israel Adesanya doubled down on his most hated rival

‘The Last Stylebender’ has fought and won against many elite fighters like Robert Whittaker, Jared Cannonier, Alex Pereira, and Jan Blachowiz. However irrespective of win or loss, there were no hard feelings as such between Adesanya and his opponents, even with Pereira. In fact, the rivalry with Pereira seems to be blossoming into a beautiful friendship.

However, Adesanya’s loss against Sean Strickland stood out like a sore thumb as it was considered by many as the biggest upset in modern UFC history. At UFC 293, the MMA community was shocked at what they had witnessed. Strickland knocked down Adesanya, overwhelmed him, and outclassed him. Since then, Adesanya has lost twice and is going through quite a slump.

Adesanya recently spoke about Strickland and a desire for a rematch on his YouTube channel. “Yeah, it’s time. I have a feeling who I want to fight. You’ll like this one. I got to get some get back… Strickland,” he said. Interestingly this rivalry is unfinished because Adesanya was finished by his other rivals like Pereira, Dricus Du Plessis, and Nassrouddine Imavov, but Strickland gave him a unanimous decision loss, after beating him from pillar to post. Adesanya wanting a rematch against ‘Tarzan’ seems valid in this scenario. So, do you think Israel Adesanya will end up fighting Sean Strickland next? Let us know in the comments.