“That’s What We Don’t Believe”: Alex Pereira Opens on Israel Adesanya’s Claim of Setting Up “Traps” During Their Fight at UFC 287

Just two months after his loss to Israel Adesanya, Alex Pereira is preparing to get back into the octagon once again. Despite getting knocked out cold in his last match, the Brazilian seems ready to trade blows at upcoming UFC 292 event. This time the former WGP middleweight champion will square off against Jan Blachowicz in his first Light Heavyweight bout for the promotion.

Amidst his upcoming clash, the former UFC middleweight champion joined Ariel Helwani to talk about his preparations. During the interview, Pereira opened up about Adesanya’s claim of setting up ‘traps’ during their fight at UFC 287.

‘Poatan’ believes Adesanya didn’t win by setting traps 

If the kickboxer-turned-fighter is to be believed, Adesanya did not lay any ‘traps’. Rather, the Brazilian believes that his Kiwi rival was able to find an opening during the exchange to deliver the fateful blow. But despite this, Pereira gives credit to the ‘Last Stylebender’, attributing his toughness as the reason for his win. He further added that anybody else would have gone down following his strikes, but Adesanya endured it long enough to connect with his chin. In ‘Poatan’s own words:

“Well, as far as they say that he sat a trap and he let himself get to that point to throw, that’s what we don’t believe, you know what I mean? The way that he’s strong, many guys who had just fallen on the floor, he’d say that he fought and think, you know, that’s how he got to win.”

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This statement came in as a response to Helwani’s question, asking the former Glory two-division champion’s opinion on Adesanya’s statement. For context, the two former kickboxers went toe to toe for the second time in the main event of UFC 287. Despite a very competitive first round, ‘Izzy’ was able to survive Pereira’s onslaught in the second and land the haymaker. This was the fourth time the two have met in their combat sports career and the only one ending in favor of Israel Adesanya.

Alex Pereira weighs 220 lbs and will train with Sean Strickland

Just two months after locking horns with Israel Adesanya, Alex Pereira is all set to make his Light Heavyweight debut. The former kickboxer will face Jan Błachowicz at UFC 291 in Salt Lake City, Utah. In his interview with Ariel Helwani, the Brazilian revealed that he is currently walking somewhere between 220-225 lbs. In his opinion, that would help him cut weight easily. This definitely comes off as a surprise considering the fighter has been touted as ‘too big’ for the middleweight divisions. While his exact off-camp weight is unknown, the fighter is known to walk north of 230 lbs off-camp.

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Apart from this, ‘Poatan’ also revealed that he will train with Sean Strickland for his upcoming bout. Strickland too is preparing for his clash with Abusupiyan Magomedov at UFC Vegas 76. It is noteworthy that Adesanya too made his UFC light heavyweight debut against Jan Blachowicz in a losing effort.