UFC 281 was absolutely bonkers, to say the least. With some spectacular fights and knockouts, the MMA event did drop some jaws. But what took the fans by surprise the most was Alex Pereira, taking down Israel Adesanya and having his name carved as the middleweight champion. Both combatants had a cause to pursue, and the Brazilian ‘Poatan’ ultimately prevailed.
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With both fighters having it out at each other prior to the fight, the hype for the fight was at its peak. And Pereira was not a very known name in the UFC world. But post defeating the reigning middleweight champion, ‘Poatan’ has become the talk of the town.
Fans react to the heated moment between the Israel Adesanya vs Alex Pereira fight
A clip from the Israel Adesanya vs Alex Pereira bout has been surfacing on the internet where the latter can be seen uttering, “Ready to kill” and fans can definitely feel the heat through the screen. Many connected it with Adesanya’s “I’m prepared to die,” which he said during his fight against Kelvin Gastelum.
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Fans had a lot to say about it.
One indicated that Alex is from the jungle and wrote, “He’s from the jungle. Has that killer instinct.”
“Dude looks like he was created in a lab 💀.”
A fan found a correlation between Adesanya and Pereira’s quotes. “When “prepared to die” meets “ready to kill.””
Read More: After Losing Title, Israel Adesanya Reveals He Had ‘Medical Stuff’ That ‘People Make Fun’ Of
No rematches for The Last Stylebender, commented another fan. “3-0 no rematch deserved. Izzy had 5 years to get better and still the same result with Izzy taking an L 💀.”
A fan stated that Pereira was copying Adesanya. “Can he stop copying Izzy for 2 minutes.”
“The best ufc rivalry ever imo.”
“He’s taking everything he worked for dayum 🤣🤣.”
Although he may have lost the title, but when asked about his present state, Israel Adesanya stated that he was “grateful”. In the post-fight interview, Adesanya did address the stoppage and said he felt ‘fine’ and ‘lucid’ when the referee stopped the fight.
The history and the future
The combat history of Adesanya and Pereira dates back all the way to 2016. Both fighters squared up for kickboxing matches two times prior to their UFC bout. First time in China(2016) and again in Brazil(2017). Adesanya lost to Pereira on both occasions and with his latest defeat, it is a solid 3-0 for Pereira against Adesanya.
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Having locked horns three times, the war between the two is not seeing a dead end anytime soon. On the recent episode of Andrew Schultz’s podcast Flagrant, Israel Adesanya did have something to say to Pereira, when asked about the rematch.
He said, “I will fight you, until I beat you.” He continued, “I will be 60 and I will knock on your f*****g door with my walking stick and be like, Yo, you and me right now, like, we need to go.”
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Watch this story: Five Times Israel Adesanya Proved Why He Is the Best Dancer in the UFC
It seems like fans may witness another intense battle between the two in the UFC octagon. Fans have a new rivalry in the UFC and it is battle-intense.