Israel Adesanya doesn’t hold a grudge against Alex Pereira anymore. The rivalry between the two men began in their kickboxing careers and carried over to MMA. ‘Poatan’ first faced off against ‘The Last Stylebender’ inside the Octagon at UFC 281 in late 2022, where he took the middleweight title away from Adesanya with a stoppage win. However, Adesanya rebounded with a knockout win of his own against the Brazilian at UFC 287 in early 2023.

As such, in a recent conversation on comedian Theo Von’s podcast, Adesanya revealed that despite the epic battles between the pair, he doesn’t “hate” Pereira but still feels like the win-loss record between the pair is inaccurate. His comments also shed light on the mutual respect between competitors who lay it all on the line in the world of combat sports!

Israel Adesanya has moved on from rivalry with ‘Poatan’ 

In his recent appearance on ‘The MMA Hour’, Alex Pereira indicated that he was willing to move on from his rivalry with Israel Adesanya and even hinted at the possibility of the pair training together! He stated, “…If I can be absolutely sure that we will never face each other in the Octagon again, why not?”, indicating that there is no bad blood between the two men, despite their heated clashes inside the cage.

His comments echo the sentiments shared by Adesanya on his recent conversation with Theo Von on the ‘This Past Weekend’ podcast episode no. 485. Von exclaimed that he felt like Adesanya admired Pereira. This prompted ‘The Last Stylebender’ to state, “Yeah, of course yeah. Look, people think… I’m not a hater man. I’m a guy who… we’re all in this game together, right?”

Reflecting on their past encounters in kickboxing, Adesanya explained that Pereira’s success in the UFC was partly due to his victories over Adesanya in their kickboxing matches. Adesanya clarified, “…he got to the spot he got because he already beat me in kickboxing and I don’t want to harp on too much about this. But I want to give you the history for those who don’t know.”

Adesanya then mentioned that their first encounter in kickboxing ended with a decision that he believed favored Pereira, despite his disagreement with the result. But he expressed acceptance of the outcome and indicated a desire to move forward by stating, “…so technically the first fight, I thought I won, you know, anyone who watched it, he edged that out and they gave it to him and I was like what, okay, cool…”

Read More: UFC 300: Snubbed by Dana White, Israel Adesanya Refuses to Stay Silent as Bitter Rival Alex Pereira Takes Away Headliner Fight

And in the same conversation with Theo Von, the former middleweight champion also cleared the air on the rumors surrounding his involvement in the historic UFC 300 event!

 ‘The Last Stylebender’ was ready for UFC 300 

UFC 300, set for April 13, almost featured a different main event. Israel Adesanya recently revealed he was offered a fight against middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis but his opponent’s team declined the date.

In the conversation with Theo Von, Adesanya stated, “…but they summoned me for UFC 300 and I was like ‘yep, let’s roll.’ But their side didn’t want it. They didn’t want it.”

He also stated that the timing seemed off due to Du Plessis’ recent fight with Sean Strickland at UFC 297, where he likely sustained injuries. Adesanya then mentioned his own experiences with injuries but emphasized, “…so maybe he had a little bit of niggly injuries and stuff but we’ve all got niggles and what not.”

This revelation indicated a missed opportunity for a potentially thrilling main event at UFC 300. However, it also sets the stage for future anticipation, as fans eagerly await the eventual clash between Adesanya and Du Plessis, potentially on a different date.

Do you think Israel Adesanya will be able to reclaim his middleweight title from Dricus Du Plessis soon? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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