"That was me not staying true to my style" – Israel Adesanya talks about the mistakes he made that led to the knockout loss to Alex Pereira

Israel Adesanya will headline UFC 281, where he'll defend his middleweight title for the sixth time. His opponent, Alex Pereira, defeated Adesanya twice in kickboxing, including handing him the only knockout loss of his combat sports career. The No.2-ranked pound-for-pound fighter opened up on the mistakes that led to the knockout.

As announced on @SportsCenter, we have a 𝑴𝑨𝑺𝑺𝑰𝑽𝑬 main event set for MSG 🍎

@Stylebender vs Alex Pereira is confirmed for #UFC281!

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Speaking on his YouTube channel, FREESTYLEBENDER, Adesanya discussed his knockout loss:

"In that moment I got too hungry and then I blew my load a little bit. In the third round he did his work, and I've given him thumbs up for that. He came in, ready, walking me down, throwing, throwing, and then went boom, caught me, and that was all she wrote."

Adesanya detailed what led to the knockout, adding:

"That was me not staying true to my style. I know how to touch this guy bad. I know how to vary my attacks and I know how to fight properly. I might just jab and leg kick him."

Adesanya will enter UFC 281 looking to avenge the knockout loss suffered in the final fight of his kickboxing career. Pereira will have the opportunity to become the middleweight champion in just his eighth career mixed martial arts fight and fourth career UFC fight. He will look to hand Adesanya his first career middleweight mixed martial arts loss.

Watch Israel Adesanya's full comments below (starting at the 7:50 mark):

Israel Adesanya wants Steve Mazzagatti to return for UFC 281 main event

Israel Adesanya will look to avenge the only knockout loss of his combat sports career when he enters the octagon at UFC 281. The middleweight champion has made it clear that this fight is personal to him, and he recently requested that UFC President Dana White bring back former official Steve Mazzagatti.

🇧🇷 Pereira KO’s Adesanya 🇳🇬 = 💣
⏱ Round 3 Knockout (0:42)
🇧🇷 Glory Of Heroes 7
🗓 4th March 2017
🏟 Ginásio do Ibirapuera
🎥: Glory Of Heroes https://t.co/A2EvHgF6ds

During his time with the UFC, Mazzagatti developed a reputation for allowing fights to carry on for far too long. Adesanya requesting Mazzagatti implies that he is looking to inflict serious damage on his opponent at UFC 281.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, FREESTYLEBENDER, Adesanya stated:

"Dana, bring back Steve Mazzagatti. Bring back Steve Mazzagatti to ref my fight because I want to hear 'fight back' as I'm punching him in the face like 50 times. I want to hear 'Fight back, you need to move Alex, you need to move, fight back, now hook him up.' I wanna hear that like 50 times before they drag me off of him."

Watch Israel Adesanya's comments below (starting at the 15:52 mark):