Alex Pereira Reveals Mindset Before Facing Experienced Israel Adesanya in MMA Fight

The animosity between the UFC middleweight fighters Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira is as clear as day. There were several instances when they openly talked about the rivalry between the two. In a recent interview, Pereira gave a detailed account of the derogatory comments made by Adesanya about him. However, Poatan says these words can bother him but later serve as his biggest motivation. Most of Poatan’s focus is on bringing the belt to his tribe. The Last StyleBender and Poatan came face to face in November 2022 at UFC 281. However, the strongest wrestler lost to the powerful strikes of Poatan in round five.

Alex Pereira never forgets to hold firm to his roots

Soon after he won the middleweight belt, Pereira went back to his tribes to share the happiness of achieving the belt. Pereira has always made sure that he holds strongly to his roots. Even after reaching the peak of success within a very short time in the UFC, Pereira didn’t let his success blur him a bit. He went back to his tribe and proved that no one could remove him from his indigenous culture.

During an interview with Brett Okamoto of ESPN MMA, the champion was queried about how Adesanya’s critical remarks about his origins affected him. The Brazilian fighter had a straightforward response. Through his translator, Plinio Cruz, Poatan said, “Well, on fight day, he [Alex Pereira] completely went blank and forgot everything because he was focused on a mission.” Poatan succeeded in completing his goal of capturing the middleweight title, and he gave the belt to his Patazo clan in his native nation. There are around 11,800 members of the Pataxó tribe. They are noted in Bahia, Brazil. They also speak Patxoha, a revived dialect of Pataxó, in addition to Portuguese. Pereira is a real indigenous individual from the tribe.

‘Poatan’ versus The Last Stylebender for UFC 287

In the interview, Pereira further said that it is Adesanya’s derogatory comments that become his motivation. Adesanya once made some harsh and sarcastic comments about Poatan. He said that when Adesanya becomes the world champion, Pereira will be sitting in some pub with his friends, saying he once beat Adesanya. He even went to the extent of saying that no one is going to remember the Brazilian fighter. Adesanya, on several occasions, had talked ill of Pereira. Once he claimed that Poatan was not even a good fighter; he just uses the name of the Last Stylebender to become famous. The 185-pound fighter finds it hard to accept that he had to give up Poatan’s punches.

READ MORE: “I See a Lot of People Changing” – Alex Pereira Reveals What Changed After He Returned to the Pataxo Tribe as a UFC Champion

 Pereira has been quite transparent about how he feels about the derogatory comments that Adesanya throws at him every now and then. Pereira is all set to derive more motivation from them to beat Adesanya once again at UFC 287.

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