Israel Adesanya reveals he needed "medical intervention" following loss to Alex Pereira at UFC 281

Israel Adesanya was dethroned by Alex Pereira at UFC 281 in dramatic fashion, as the Brazilian clinched a TKO finish late in the final minutes of Round 5 of their contest. 'The Last Stylebender' reigned supreme over the middleweight division for more than three years before suffering his first MMA defeat at 185lbs to 'Poatan'.

The Nigerian-born Kiwi previously stated that the peroneal nerve in his leg had been affected by Pereira's leg kicks, which slowed down his movement. 'The Last Stylebender' has now revealed that he required "medical intervention" on the injured leg following UFC 281.

Israel Adesanya stated that he entered the fight against Alex Pereira with a pre-existing injury that was compounded during the fight. He recently spoke to New Zealand MMA outlet Combat TV and said:

"I had some medical intervention [following the fight]. Not just the fight itself, but I had a pre-existing thing that I had to sort out before the fight. Everyone goes into a fight with something, there's always something [wrong]. [It's] the way we train."

Watch the interview below from 2:10:

Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira have faced each other three times in combat sports. 'Poatan' defeated Adesanya twice in kickboxing between 2016-2017. The Brazilian added a third victory against 'The Last Stylebender' at UFC 281 and has the chance to make it 4-0 when the pair face off once again at UFC 287 in April.

The pay-per-view event in April will feature several exciting bouts in addition to Adesanya vs. Pereira. The co-main event will see welterweight stars Jorge Masvidal and Gilbert Burns go head-to-head after months of verbal sparring.

Miaaaaami fans, April 8 can't come soon enough!☀️

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Alex Pereira doesn't believe Israel Adesanya has enough time to make necessary changes ahead of rematch

Alex Pereira will attempt to defend his new middleweight title for the first time against the man he took it from, Israel Adesanya, in the main event of UFC 287.

Pereira has far less experience than Adesanya in MMA, as 'The Last Stylebender' has more UFC title fights under his belt than 'Poatan' has MMA fights.

The Brazilian was recently interviewed by BT Sport ahead of their MMA rematch. Pereira stated that Adesanya won't have enough time to make the changes he needs to defeat the Brazilian and that the result will be similar to UFC 281:

"I think [this fight] will be pretty much the same [as the last fight]. It's too short of a time span for [Israel Adesanya] to change his game. I think he's on an automatic mode, just going to go in. But if he tries to do something different I don't think it's gonna be too good for him."

Watch the interview below:

'If he tries to do something different, it's not going to be too good for him' 💥

Alex Pereira is feeling confident in his rematch with Israel Adesanya at #UFC287 and believes he is fully in Stylebender's head 👀

Watch the full interview with @AlexPereiraUFC on YouTube now ▶️ https://t.co/QyTgZ74Iwr