Israel Adesanya’s and Alex Pereira’s rivalry will go down as one of the greatest in UFC history after both fighters scored a win over each other during their longstanding feud.
When Alex Pereira joined the promotion in 2021, he already had a huge history with former middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya.
Because of that, fans were hopeful that the Brazilian could quickly rise up the ranks to reignite what was such an incredible rivalry in the kickboxing ring.
Israel Adesanya defends Alex Pereira after fan disrespects ‘Poatan’
The two did just that and went on to fight twice more under the UFC banner, providing fans with two more classic fights and two incredible knockouts.
Since then, Pereira and Adesanya have seemingly dropped their feud and even agreed to train with each other at one point, however, that hasn’t looked to come to fruition.
Following ‘The Last Stylebenders’ knockout of ‘Poatan’ at UFC 287, he received criticism for his celebration, as he mocked Pereira in front of his two sons. Fortunately, though, the two squashed their beef soon after.
With it having been such a poignant rivalry among fans of the sport, the two fighters still get asked about each other to this day. During a recent meet and greet, Adesanya corrected a young fan after he made disrespectful comments about the Brazilian, showing his respect for his once rival.
“I think Alex Pereira sucks,” the young fan told Adesanya in an attempt to get his approval.
“Nah, he’s all good, he’s really good, show him respect, he’s really good, don’t worry I beat him already so you can be a fan,” Adesanya replied.
“I think you’ll be a champion again,” the young fan then responded.
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Israel Adesanya back in camp for his next fight
The 35-year-old is now back in fight camp, preparing for his next fight and opponent. Adesanya was recently called out by undefeated Russian striker, Shara ‘Bullet’ Magomedov, who picked up a huge win at UFC 307.
Magomedov’s coach went on to reveal that ‘Bullet’ has already begun preparing for a fight in Saudi Arabia on February 1.
Adesanya didn’t elude to whether his upcoming fight will be against Magomedov but soon after the callout, the former champion got straight into fight camp.
Having said that, ‘The Last Stylebender’ did recently tease a potential fight against Nassourdine Imavov when he posted an image on his social media of him watching Imavov’s fight against Jared Cannonier.
‘The Russian Sniper’ is currently ranked fifth in the 185lb division and is on a three-fight win streak with recent wins over Cannonier and Brendan Allen.