UFC 287 was a full-circle moment for former two-time middleweight champ Israel Adesanya. Why? Well, it is because he turned the tables against his rival, Alex Pereira, and decided to give a lesson to the Brazilian juggernaut’s son. For the unversed, Pereria and ‘Izzy’ had already fought thrice at the time, and some questioned ‘The Last Stylebender’s decision to face his rival again, who had knocked him out twice before this. However, after regaining the middleweight title with a knockout over ‘Poatan’ in the main event of UFC 287, the Nigerian-Kiwi star celebrated by teaching a lesson to Pereira’s son.

Pereira is well known for his archery skills and shot some imaginary arrows during his walkout for his second UFC matchup with Adesanya. After Adesanya’s KO victory, he shot back some imaginary arrows while Pereira was out cold. But the next move was ‘petty’ as Adesanya moved to the other side of the cage, pointing at Pereira’s son, and threw himself on the mat to pretend to be out cold. But why? Well, during their kickboxing rematch in 2017, Pereira had knocked out ‘Izzy’ cold, and it was so brutal that the latter needed oxygen before rising back to his feet. While Adesanya was still dazed and confused, Pereira’s five-year-old son, Alessandro, entered the ring, hit himself with a water bottle, and pretended to be knocked out.

Lo and behold, the tables turned six years later, ‘Izzy’ got his revenge and taught Pereira Jr a little lesson. He recently doubled down on the same on Pound 4 Pound and said, “ After the fight, like after the Pereira fight, I remember this kid what he did, so I had that go after him, and then backstage I was cool with Pereira. We had the moment. I told him he was a great champion, no matter what, never let them take it away from you, his kids were there, I said, ‘What’s up?’. And I have no issue with them, but there’s a window. You just have to let them know there is a window.”

Now, this window was inside the cage just after he knocked out ‘Poatan’ and decided to teach his son a lesson. ‘Izzy’ further stated, “Cause after that winner, then it’s like bad sportsmanship even though they have done it to you for years. But will talk after this. I will show you the ways, there are ways. But yeah, there is a window, there’s like a small window where you can just let them know, have your moment, and then after that, then put because again, I do feel after that fight it’s like it’s over now. After fights are done, whether you win or lose, there is a sense of relief, right?”

Meanwhile, during the post-fight interview back in 2023, Adesanya admitted that it was rather petty to go against a 5-year-old. He said, “I remember. The first time he knocked me out in Brazil, his son came into the ring and then just started to lie dead next to me,” he said. “I’m like, ‘You f***ing little a******, I’ll whoop your a** if your dad doesn’t do it for you.’ I looked for his kid, I pointed at him, and I saw him and I was like, ‘Hey, hey, hey,’ just to remind him.”

The reporter even reminded ‘Izzy’ that just like the storylines in action movies and anime, Pereira’s son might decide to take revenge for his father. Adesanya laughed and said, “If you can crawl, we can brawl.” Guess what? Adesanya is open to trying things outside his comfort zone. At least, that is what he said recently!

Israel Adesanya is ready to break out of his comfort zone

Adesanya has proved his mettle more than once in UFC and MMA in general. He started as a top-notch kickboxer before making the switch to MMA right after the devastating left hook knockout loss to Alex Pereira at Glory of Heroes 7. He has leveled up ever since and garnered a 24-5-0 record in MMA. Yes, he lost three back-to-back fights recently, but that does not diminish his credibility.

Since he has seen the highs and lows of the game and maybe survived his worst fears, he is ready to mix things up a bit and get out of his comfort zone. Adesanya on the Pound 4 Pound Podcast said, “I can’t wait! Cause in my last fight I was doing well, but I can’t wait till I fight again just cause there are some things I wanna try. Just for the love, just for the fun. Because people have never seen me even. Have I ever shot for a takedown? I hit a lateral drop kind of once. I took him down, yeah! He initiated it, and I was like, countered him. Boom! Yeah! Certain things I wanna try. Just to say I’ve done it in the cage.”

It would be a sight to see Adesanya initiate wrestling exchanges, given he has only 9 career takedowns attempted so far! Some of you might remember he took down Pereira in their first UFC clash and won himself the round. But he could do not outperform a Jan Blachowicz or a Dricus Du Plessis on the ground. Unless he has been preparing to do just that in his next bout.

What do you think Israel Adesanya will bring to the table in the future? Does he still have more to surprise us with, on top of an already storied career? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.