"You're talking about jealousy"- Chael Sonnen explains the real motivation behind Alex Pereira wanting to fight Israel Adesanya for the third time with the UFC middleweight championship on the line
Israel Adesanya is set to defend his middleweight title against Alex Pereira in the main event of UFC 281. While Pereira has two wins over Adesanya in kickboxing, they have never met in the UFC. Mixed martial arts analyst and former middleweight contender Chael Sonnen believes the No.4-ranked middleweight is jealous of the current middleweight champion.
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Israel Adesanya has never lost in the UFC middleweight division with his only mixed martial arts loss coming in a light heavyweight title fight against former champion Jan Blachowicz. He has become one of the most popular mixed martial artists on the planet, and Chael Sonnen believes that could be the motivation for Alex Pereira targeting Adesanya.
Speaking on his Beyond The Fight podcast, Sonnen stated:
"The two-time winner is the one wanting the rematch and thinking about the opponent. That's interesting to me. Why? Well, Pereira went on, 'I was better, I had a better art, people didn't know me, I didn't make money, I didn't get a fight on pay-per-view, I didn't go become famous, I didn't go become wealthy and I feel that I'm better so I had to follow him over here and I'm going to go take what he's got."
Sonnen continued by adding:
"The guy that wins doesn't generally chase the other guy for any reason and now when you're talking about fame and money, you're talking about jealousy, you're talking about envy, the corrupt desire to possess something somebody else has. You're talking about envy. That's powerful stuff."
It remains to be seen if Adesanya can overcome his two kickboxing losses or if Pereira can be the first middleweight to defeat the current champion. Adesanya remains confident that he will overcome his UFC 281 opponent in their first mixed martial arts bout.
Watch Chael Sonnen's comments on Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira below (starting at the 5:52 mark):
Israel Adesanya shared why he believes people label his fights boring
Israel Adesanya has been one of the most dominant middleweights in UFC history, but fans have not been thrilled with his recent performances, labeling them as 'boring'.
He shared that he believes his dominance has earned him the label, as his opponents realize that they won't defeat him and go into survival mode. Speaking to Combat TV, Adesanya stated:
"After the first round, and halfway through the second round, the last three guys, they kinda realized that this is not going to well. They go from trying to beat me, to trying to survive and not get knocked out... They try their best and then after the first round they realize that he's touching me too much. And they have it playing in their head, am I going to get knocked out soon? And they just become completely almost defensive."
Watch the full interview with Adesanya below: