UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya said that his upcoming bout with Alex Pereira will be personal. Adesanya also became more focused in training to the point that he turned down movie roles.
Israel Adesanya is set to headline UFC 281 on November 12. He will face his longtime rival from Glory Kickboxing Alex Pereira.
During a recent interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, Adesanya explained how his victory against Pereira will greatly change fans’ view on him.
“It is, but it’s personal. Because this is about me and my legacy. This is about, I guess, rewriting history even though it is history, and I never chase this. ”
“This is about me rewriting a new path of history and just showing people what I can really do because, again, you all must have forgotten. They always forget, and it’s because of this tik-tok era.” Adesanya said.
Adesanya also addressed the time Pereira mocked his unique training method.
“The attention span is so quick they move on so fast. So yes, this is personal for me, I’m just gonna say less.”
“He can do all the tennis ball videos and f*cking hoverboard things he wants, but for me, I’m just like, cool. You do you. He has bragging rights. So let him do that. But yeah, when it’s time, I know something he doesn’t.” Adesanya said.
Adesanya made comparisons to how Conor McGregor approached UFC 229 – and his infamous loss to Khabib. According to Adesanya, too much energy was spent in the preamble to the actual real show.
While Adesanya’s camp banned media and cameras – and reportedly restructured heavily. Pereira has been trolling online with content raging from taking a picture with a lifesize constume of Elsa from Frozen to the now infamous tennis ball reflex run.