‘I might have been on shrooms’ - Israel Adesanya claims being high in the shower inspired his road to victory against Alex Pereira
Israel Adesanya made an appearance on the FLAGRANT podcast with Andrew Schulz and crew and spoke about how being high in the shower inspired his success against Alex Pereira.
For the longest time, 'Poatan' was considered to be the boogeyman for 'Stylebender'. While 'Izzy' found success in MMA, 'Poatan' soon followed him there, and presented 'Stylebender' with a nightmare scenario - beating him three times across their combat sports careers, and taking his belt.
![Alex Pereira [Left] Israel Adesanya [Right] at UFC 287 [Image courtesy: Getty images]](https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2023/06/1a9eb-16866691660086-1920.jpg?w=500)
Though, Israel Adesanya's worst nightmare came to fruition, he found redemption in his MMA rematch against Pereira, and emphatically won their bout via second-round KO at UFC 287. Here's what Adesanya said about his road to victory against 'Poatan':
"I'm in the shower, and I'm visualizing. For fighting, when I do it, it's like - I feel everything. And I remember being so happy while I was visualizing, I was just like feeling so happy after the fight. Like, when I visualize a win, I visualize the knockout, I visualize the press conference, post fight, fight week. It just goes, it's like Tourettes [syndrome], I can't help it."
Skip to 00:50 for Israel Adesanya on his road to victory at UFC 287:
'The Last Stylebender' continued:
"That's how I manifest [things], I use my imagination. So when I was visualizing, I just remember being so happy. I might have been on shrooms, in the shower. But, as I was visualizing, I was so happy and I was like, 'Man, I just want everyone to feel how happy I am, right now. Just once.'"
Israel Adesanya is willing to fight Alex Pereira for a fifth time, on one condition
Israel Adesanya had the ultimate comeback this year, since losing his title and third combat sports bout to Alex Pereira. In the second round of their MMA rematch at UFC 287, Adesanya found a picture-perfect one-two combo, between being rushed by Pereira.
The one-two combination caused Pereira to stumble to a point where he didn't see a right hook from Israel Adesanya, followed by the left uppercut. The four shots seemed to have put Pereira out, but Adesanya followed it up with a couple of hammerfists before the referee stopped the fight.
On a recent episode of The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, the middleweight champion said he'd be willing to face 'Poatan' for a fifth time. Here's what he said:
"If he wins the belt at 205 (pounds), I'll do it again. If not - I think he's done with it, I'm done with it."
Adesanya also told Helwani that he believes Alex Pereira will beat Jan Blachowicz via knockout, when they face off at UFC 291.