UFC analyst breaks down Israel Adesanya's KO loss to Alex Pereira
MMA analyst Sayif Saud provided a breakdown of the resurgent viral video from 2017's Israel Adesanya vs. Alex Pereira rematch.
The clip has made the rounds on social media as Adesanya is set to defend the UFC middleweight title against Pereira on Saturday. Most people only seem to remember Pereira's KO highlight. However, Saud reminded fans that Adesanya performed exceptionally well before the fight-ending blow connected.
During a recent episode of UFC Breakdown on YouTube, the combat sports analyst said:
"In this fight, Izzy would be very aggressive. He would go after Pereira and he would hurt him badly in this fight. [Adesanya] kept hitting him with this big right hands. You knew he was trying to put a stamp on it because he lost a close decision. And because of that we saw him even more aggressive."
Saud also pointed out that Adesanya even came close to finishing Pereira. In round two, 'The Last Stylebender' tagged 'Poatan' with a series of hard shots, prompting the referee to step in with a standing eight count:
"And he would go on to hurt Alex bad, damage him in the second round, even so much that he [Pererira] would end up getting a standing eight count in this fight... I don't know if anybody knows that, but right here, the ref's about to jump in. He hits him with one more shot and the ref steps in right at this moment. There's a standing eight count from Alex. Things are looking great for Izzy, but all that's gonna change. [Pereira] lands that big left hook. Izzy's down, that was it."
Watch the video below:
Israel Adesanya blames "TikTok era" for UFC 281 narrative
Israel Adesanya thinks he's being counted out against Alex Pereira because "TikTok era" UFC fans have short attention spans.
Adesanya has repeatedly pointed out that he was comfortably beating Pereira before the Brazilian landed his daunted left hook. During a recent interview on The MMA Hour, Adesanya vowed that he will prove once and for all what he's capable of:
"This is about, re-writing history, even though it is history and I never chased this. This is about me re-writing a new path to history and showing people what I can really do. 'Cause again, y’all must've forgot. They always forget! It's because of this TikTok era, their attention span is so quick. They move on so fast."
Watch Israel Adesanya's interview below: