UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya created history when he beat Alex Pereira at UFC 287 in April. ‘Stylebender’ had previously lost to the Brazilian three times in his career before meeting him for a fourth time in Miami. Therefore, Adesanya’s win was all the more impressive considering the mental hurdles he had to jump over, prior to facing ‘Poatan.’

Adesanya’s win was awe-inspiring for many fans and pros, including UFC legend Bas Rutten. The former heavyweight champion and UFC Hall of Fame member recently shared his admiration for Adesanya’s feat. He was talking to Joe Rogan on a recent installment of the JRE MMA Show.

On episode #139 of the JRE MMA Show Rogan hosted UFC legend Bas Rutten. Over their three-hour-long conversation, the pair touched upon many subjects, including Adesanya’s win over Pereira. Apparently, Rutten was most impressed by Adesanya coming back from a loss to get a statement victory over his greatest rival.

Bas Rutten lauds Israel Adesanya for beating Alex Pereira

Joe Rogan and Bas Rutten were talking about outstanding MMA performances when they landed on the subject of Israel Adesanya. Rutten said, “We have guys like Israel Adesanya. For him to lose and then to come back, You see, I think that’s more powerful than any other person out there.”

He added how Adesanya’s feat was more impressive than any undefeated record. He explained it saying, “You know you can be undefeated. It’s nice but you know, show people you’re human. And coming back from that, and almost rope-a-doping right?”

To add more context to the conversation, Rogan detailed the previous encounters between the pair. He said, “He had gotten very close to stopping him in one of the kickboxing fights, and then dropped him with seconds to go. One second to go in the first round of their MMA fight. So he kind of knew he could get to him.” 

Rogan had also paid a tribute to Adesanya via an Instagram post. He wrote how honored he was to witness the fight live and called Adesanya “great and powerful.”

Pereira and Adesanya have now faced each other four times in their careers. The scales tip 3-1 in Pereira’s favor, but the momentum is with Adesanya after his most recent win. In his three wins, Pereira finished Adesanya twice. Hence, the demand for a trilogy fight between the pair in the UFC is also strong.

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What do you think of Rutten’s compliment to Adesanya? Do you want to see a trilogy fight between the two middleweights? Who do you think wins that one?

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Let us know in the comments.