Israel Adesanya and Glover Teixeira acknowledge the ongoing rivalry between 'Poatan' and Stylebender at the World MMA Awards
Despite Alex Pereira winning all three of his bouts against Israel Adesanya, the rivalry is still very much alive, according to the former UFC middleweight champion.
Adesdanya uploaded a video to his YouTube channel, which saw an interaction between himself and former UFC light heavyweight champion Glover Teixeira, who also happens to be Pereira's coach. Although it was a respectful and friendly encounter, 'Izzy' made it known that he still considers it war, saying:
"It's still war. No, not now, like it's still war but always respect...And I like your story visa issues, all that kind of s**t coming through, so congrats."
Teixeira was very appreciative of the former middleweight champion's kind words and added that he knows the it's still war because of the competitiveness of both 'Poatan' and 'Izzy.' After Teixeira mentioned that both will be able to do a lot with the amount of money they make from fighting again, 'The Stylebender' cut him off and reaffirmed that they are still at war and that talk is for after, saying:
"Like I said, it's still war. We're not done, it's still war. It's still war, you already know. It's always respect, but it's still war."
Based on his interaction with Teixeira, Adesanya intends to pursue an immediate rematch with Pereira, but it will be interesting to see how soon the UFC book the fight.
Check out the full video:
Israel Adesanya and Dan Hooker accept award for Best Gym at World MMA Awards
City Kickboxing won the 'Best Gym' at the MMA Awards 🏆
#UFC #MMA https://t.co/rhlFWDimBa
It was a great night for Israel Adesanya and Dan Hooker as they accepted the Best Gym award at the 2022 World MMA Awards ceremony.
City Kickboxing has grown leaps and bounds in the past few years and has an incredibly talented crop of fighters that includes 'Izzy', Hooker, Kai-Kara France, and Alex Volkanovski. Volkanovski is the reigning UFC featherweight champion and No.1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world.
Prior to losing his middleweight championship to Alex Pereira at UFC 281, Adesanya was unbeaten at middleweight. HIs other loss came at 205lbs against former light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz.
Based on the exciting fights on the horizon in 2023, it will be interesting to see if City Kickboxing will repeat as Best Gym at next year's World MMA Awards. They will have some tough competition as Khabib Nurmagomedov has seen two of his proteges win a championship in their respective promotions.