Dricus Du Plessis‘s successful middleweight title defense at UFC 305 against Israel Adesanya shocked the world, as the MMA community was expecting a victory for the former middleweight boogeyman. Adesanya was coming from a year-long hiatus as he was on a break. However, Du Plessis was a better man that night. The MMA world h͏as b͏een͏ buzzing ͏wi͏th a qu͏estio͏n: Why didn’t ͏’Style͏bende͏r’ use the leg͏ ͏ki͏cks͏ tha͏t were͏ so effe͏ctive in hi͏͏s͏ ͏previous ma͏tches? Alex Pereira appears to have answered the question in his latest video, which he uploaded to his YouTube channel.

The former middleweight champion and the current light heavyweight champ watched the entire match and after Du Plessis’s victory, took to his Instagram to hint at a middleweight return. Regardless, let us look at why Adesanya never used his kickboxing skills against Du Plessis.

Alex Pereira reveals injury angle following Israel Adesanya’s defeat against Dricus Du Plessis

Alex Pereira has been Israel Adesanya’s arch-rival since their kickboxing days. The duo have fought each other on multiple occasions and understand how the other fights. ‘Poatan’ was shocked when he witnessed the clash between Adesanya and Dricus Du Plessis, not because ‘Stillknocks’ won but because ‘StyleBender’ was not using his signature kicks in the match.

In his latest video on his YouTube handle, Pereira emphasizes the only logical explanation for this is injury. “I don’t know how Adesanya was… Maybe Adesanya had an injury, I don’t know,” said ‘Poatan.’ I͏njury migh͏t explain wh͏y A͏desanya didn͏’t use͏ h͏is s͏ignatur͏e ͏kic͏ks, especially ͏c͏onsidering he was re͏t͏urn͏ing͏ to the Octagon after a year of inactivit͏y. However, Pereira is confident that his arch-nemesis was kind of holding back against Adesanya.

He further emphasized, “You could see he kicked very little. Things I saw, that inside kick of Adesanya is very good. Not everyone can do that, but he can do it very well. It was a good weapon, and he didn’t continue doing that inside kick. Even Dricus said it bothered him, also bothered me. I said it before for the people who asked me. He didn’t continue to do it. When he is only throwing hands, I think it’s easier for the opponent to protect themselves, or to get out.”

Israel Adesanya’s defeat might be a trigger for Alex Pereira to get back at the 185 lbs division. His Instagram post hinting at a comeback at the middleweight division has alerted the undisputed champion. However, Du Plessis has some other plans for Pereira. What? Let’s have a look at it.

Dricus Du Plessis is planning to jump divisions

The South African is undefeated under the promotion and is most likely planning on staying undefeated, irrespective of the challenges that the UFC throws toward him. Regardless, Alex Pereira’s warning after Israel Adesanya’s defeat has been taken seriously by the ‘StillKnocks’ management, but rather in a positive manner. That’s because, rather than Pereira coming down to the middleweight division to fight Du Plessis, it’s the MW champion who wants to jump divisions to fight Pereira.

While having a conversation with the media, Du Plessis’s coach, Morne Visser, explained that Du Plessis would most likely jump divisions, “No, I won’t give him the joy to go down to 185. We’ll just go up. I don’t wanna beat him, and then he said, he’ll say that we’ve gone down, or he had to go down and he was fatigued.”

What’s your take on Alex Pereira’s statement about Adesanya’s injury? State your thoughts in the comments below.