Haunted by Rival’s Words, Alex Pereira Was Once Forced to Prove His Worth After Israel Adesanya’s Extremely Offensive Rhetoric

Alex Pereira has proved himself to be one of the best fighters in the UFC. However, his arrival in Dana White‘s promotion happened because of some distasteful words from his arch-nemesis, Israel Adesanya. ‘The last Stylebender’ once had some harsh things to say about ‘Poatan’ that led to the Brazilian’s rapid rise in the UFC.

The Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira rivalry is one of the most engaging ones in recent memory. Both fighters had a rivalry in Glory Kickboxing, which later took shape in the UFC as well. However, there is no love lost between them and Adesanya was very verbal about that in an interview in 2020.

Israel Adesanya had some harsh words for Alex Pereira

During a 2020 interview with ‘Sporting News Australia’, Israel Adesanya spoke about Alex Pereira in a very dismissive manner. He mentioned how ‘Poatan’ would watch every fight he was competing in. However, whenever Adesanya would go on to create a milestone for himself in the UFC, Pereira would hit back by claiming that he had beaten ‘Izzy’. The Kiwi fighter said, “He watches all my fights, and every time I fight, like clockwork, he’d try to put something out, like, ‘I beat this guy.'”

However, Adesanya did not stress too much about what Alex Pereira had to say. He was the UFC middleweight champion at that time. As such, ‘Izzy’ claimed that while he was the champion, people would only know ‘Poatan’ as some other guy who’d keep on telling about that one time he defeated him in the UFC.

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“At the end of the day, no one knows who the f*** he is, and he’s going to be that guy when I’m world champion, when I’m a legend, he’s going to be at some pub talking sh*t about, ‘I beat that guy one time,'” said Israel Adesanya. However, these words did not sit well with Pereira and he issued a response in return.

‘Poatan’ felt “challenged” by Adesanya’s words

As reported by ‘MMA Junkie‘, Alex Pereira did not like what Israel Adesanya had to say about him. He knew, at that moment, that he had to prove himself as a martial artist and a fighter, and felt as if he was challenged. Regardless, ‘Poatan’ was sure that nobody could hold him down if he was determined to overcome certain hurdles. He said, “I felt challenged. And whenever there’s a challenge, no one can hold me back.” 

As such, the only way Alex Pereira could have proved his worth was by fighting and defeating Israel Adesanya once again. To do that, he chose the UFC. “I wanted new challenges, and the UFC was it,” Pereira added. He quickly garnered an undefeated streak in Dana White’s promotion and then went on to defeat Adesanya for a third time in his career and capture the middleweight title in the process.

Alex Pereira proved his mettle in the middleweight division. Moreover, he also showed how he good was when he won the first light heavyweight bout against the person who has beaten Israel Adesanya in the past, Jan Blachowicz. It remains to be seen if wins a second divisional gold against a former champion at UFC 295.

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