Israel Adesanya had a very long built in storyline into his bout against Alex Pereira. The two are a mile ahead when it comes to striking at UFC middleweight but the two also have an interesting story with a rivalry spanning years and across different promotions.
Adesanya and Pereira had plenty to say about each other in lead up to the event. To recap, Adesanya said he would render him into a character from Frozen in addition to a lot of other banter.
Pereira went on to tease Adesanya’s training methods online and even posted several videos of himself performing, what can be best described as, stunt training.
But when it came down to it the two had a touching exchange in the cage – despite the outcome.
Israel Adesanya was a big favorite coming into UFC 281 despite having lost to Pereira twice in kickboxing.
Adesanya was comfortably in the lead, when Pereira pulled a surprising comeback, backed Adesanya into the fence and wobbled him enough to convince ref Marc Goddard to stop the event.
The two were cordial in the ring despite the language barrier.
Pereira was the first to approach Adesanya and offer up a hand shake along with a ‘Hey, bro’.
Adesanya replied “I’ll see you again” adding “Congratulations”. But it wasn’t enough for Pereira, who clearly made an effort to speak English and break the language barrier.
He said, “Big man, I respect you”. Adesanya repled, “I respect you, too.”
Adesanya then clarified, “I don’t like me, I don’t like you but respect” .
The two are likely to rematch sometime in the spring. Adesanya had a long reign and lapped his division making him a shoe in for the title shot. Not to mention that Dana White spoke affirmatively about him after calling him ‘a stud’ and praising his lack of nitpicking when it comes to opponents.
As for Adesanya, he’s looking to deal with several medical issues first. Which might be good for Pereira as well, after all, he recently confirmed he tore his finger ligaments during camp and was unable to grapple.