UFC MW champion Israel Adesanya pens heartfelt note for rival Alex Pereira in wonderful show of sportsmanship

UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya shared a heartfelt message directed at his combat sports rival Alex Pereira on Twitter. 'The Last Stylebender' shared a video of him and 'Poatan' embracing after their recently concluded MMA rematch at UFC 287.

Adesanya found redemption in his four-fight combat sports arc with the Brazilian-Tupi fighter. The Nigerian-born Kiwi suffered two losses in kickboxing and one in MMA - having been knocked out twice - to make a stellar comeback with a second-round KO of Alex Pereira at UFC 287.

Here's what Israel Adesanya said to Alex Pereira in his Twitter post:

"I love this game. Nothing compares, on this planet, in this life; [more] than putting it all on the line. [You only get] one shot, [with] the whole world watching, waiting - then BOOM! History. Our individual legends will always be intertwined because of the stories we’ve told with our beautiful violence."

💘💘💘❤️‍🔥 I love this game. 🎲🎲
Nothing compares on this planet, in this life than putting it all on the line. One shot, the whole world watching…waiting…then BOOM!! 🤯 HISSTORY.
Our individual legends will always be intertwined because of the stories we’ve told with our… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… https://t.co/SAuRf2SzSo

Expressing gratitude, Israel Adesanya's post continued:

"I’m grateful we have this rivalry, I’m grateful he beat me. It forced me to grow, made me better. Now, I have done the same for him - the gift that keeps on giving; A** whoopings. Shoutout to the warrior from Brazil, Alex “Poatan” Pereira!"

Israel Adesanya praises his people and home country of Nigeria

On episode 82 of the JRE MMA Show, Israel Adesanya spoke about his home country of Nigeria and how strong, as well as smart, the people are in the west African nation. 'Stylebender' referred to the people of Nigeria as warriors, stating that even blue collar workers who lay bricks are 'jacked' and 'ripped' despite not having the best nutrition.

Here's what Israel Adesanya told Joe Rogan about the success of Nigerians all around the world:

"I've said it before - I'm the runt of my people; brain-wise [and] body-wise. Because when I went back recently - honestly man, you see people who are just brick laying and they are jacked, they are ripped. And they don't maybe have the best nutrition. There's something about the genetics of our people - it's a warrior race. I don't say that lightly, I'm being honest. It's different.

Speaking on the intellect of Nigerians, the two-time UFC middleweight champion said the following:

"I was [in] the bottom three of my class. So, I wasn't the smartest of the bunch in Nigeria. So when I came to New Zealand, Form-1 [happened again]. I remember my first day [of] school, they had a test - like an early workout or something. [It was during] one of the first weeks of school. We had to do the times table, and I knew the song in my head, so I just [finished the work] and went like, 'Finished, miss.', and all the kids were like, 'Whoa'. And I'm just like, '[what] the f**k'? They all thought [that] I was this savant, this genius."