"This is not kickboxing, this is MMA" - Israel Adesanya eager to face Alex Pereira in UFC, dismisses notion that 'Poatan' needs more wins
Israel Adesanya is chomping at the bit to exact his revenge on Alex Pereira. The reigning middleweight champion is even willing to fight his former rival despite criticism that 'Poatan' is way too inexperienced in MMA to fight for a UFC title.
During a UFC 276 Australian press conference, Adesanya was asked to weigh in on a potential fight with either Pereira or Sean Strickland. In response, 'The Last Stylebender' said:
"I look forward to either one of those fights. I don't like this narrative of like, 'Oh it's too quick for [Alex Pereira].' But look, Jiri [Prochazka] just fought for the belt and won the belt in his third fight in the UFC. I think Anderson [Silva] did it in the second fight. So that's fine, he's new to MMA. I've been in this game for a long time."
Adesanya also addressed his knockout loss to Pereira from the time they fought under the Glory banner. 'The Last Stylebender' alluded to the fact that he was doing well against the Brazilian before the finish. The UFC's No.3-ranked pound-for-pound fighter added:
"This TikTok generation has 15-second memory so they forget. All they see is the knockout, but they didn't watch the first fight or even watch the second fight before the finish. This is not kickboxing, this is mixed martial arts. And these ain't big pillow gloves; these are four-ounce deadly weapons and I can't wait to drive that to his face after I go through Jared Cannonier."
Catch Israel Adesanya's comments below:
Alex Pereira vows to take the belt from Israel Adesanya
Alex Pereira is confident that he has Israel Adesanya's number, whether it be in the ring or in the cage. The Brazilian up-and-comer believes that if he were to fight Adesanya in the UFC, the result would be similar to their first two encounters.
Pereira also made it clear that his goal is to become a UFC champion, whether or not he'll have to fight Adesanya for the belt. During an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda MMA, the up-and-coming UFC middleweight said:
"Well if the fight is tomorrow, me and [Israel Adesanya], absolutely [I would beat him]. But I know I just got into the organization, I have a path to follow here before I get the belt. So my focus is to become the world champion. So if he's there or not, that's where I wanna get. Let's see who's there by the time I get there. But when I get there and he's still there, I will have no fear at all to take his belt. The one who got to be worried about is him because I beat him two times already."
Check out our interview with Alex Pereira: