What did Israel Adesanya do to Alex Pereira's son at UFC 287? 'The Last Stylebender' addresses criticism
Israel Adesanya settled an old score with Alex Pereira's son after the UFC 287 main-event on Saturday.
Pereira's son Alessandro got inside the ring and mimicked Adesanya's knockout loss to 'Poatan' back in 2017. 'The Last Stylebender' returned the favor after reclaiming his middleweight title with a second-round knockout win over Pereira in the main-event at UFC 287.
Adesanya sought out Pereira's son and mimicked the Brazilian getting knocked out.
Catch both clips below:
When Alex Pereira knocked Izzy out cold, his son mocked Izzy… Tonight Izzy pointed to Alex’s son in the crowd and returned the energy.
Petty! 😂
#UFC287 twitter.com/i/web/status/1… https://t.co/pNWgZLlCXH
Y'all need to stop crying...
Izzy mocking Pereira's son was the funniest thing Izzy has ever done 😭 https://t.co/aEFeAsIECc
Israel Adesanya's antics were criticized by a large section of the MMA community who deemed them petty. Many believe 'The Last Stylebender' was not justified in exacting revenge from a child.
Israel Adesanya represents the absolute worst of humanity. Mentally abusing and mocking a traumatized child for a beef he had with his father is nothing short of pathetic. What a sad day for the sport, its integrity, fair play, and everything good in this world. #UFC287
Holding a grudge against a child? That's weird. MMA fights applauding it is also weird.
What the child did was weird too ... but he's a CHILD.
@PhotoAmy33 it baffles me that people are somehow shocked that a 7 year old kid at the time or whatever he was would do something child like…..like izzy is a grown ass man 😂
The UFC middleweight champion has now reacted to all the criticism against his post-fight celebration. Sharing a clip of both incidents with Pereira's son, Adesanya quoted Michael Jordan's iconic words:
“… and I took that personally.”
“…and I took that personally.” - Michael Jordan. twitter.com/bball_enjoyer/…
The aforementioned phrase, which was first used by Jordan in The Last Dance, an ESPN documentary covering the 1997-1998 Chicago Bulls, has now become a part of pop culture. The NBA legend used it to describe several moments from that season that he took personally and channelized as motivation for his great performances.
"They cut off his entrance music, I took offense to that... and for him to do that? That's all I needed. And then it became personal with me."
~ Michael Jordan on Tony Khan and the Suzuki Incident https://t.co/6GBaKqTPy1
"I'm petty" - Israel Adesanya on the beef with Alex Pereira's son
Israel Adesanya had three losses against Alex Pereira going into UFC 287, including the aforementioned 2017 KO. Many, including 'Poatan' himself, believed it was unwise of Adesanya to have opted for an immediate rematch after losing his strap at UFC 281 last November.
However, 'The Last Stylebender' put a fairytale ending to the story by knocking out Pereira in the second round to conquer all his demons. Copying Pereira's celebration, the Kiwi coldly directed three arrows at 'Poatan' before going on to mock his son, who was left in tears.
Watch Alessandro's reaction in the tweet below:
Alex Pereira’s son got message from Izzy 😂 #UFC287 twitter.com/nocontextariel… https://t.co/YaC7skbssU
It should be noted that Alessandro had no qualms revisiting the moment he mocked Adesanya ahead of his father's UFC 281 clash against the Kiwi.
Speaking about his revenge on Pereira's son, Adesanya admitted that he was petty enough to teach the kid an important lesson. The 33-year-old said:
“I’m petty. I remember. The first time he knocked me out in Brazil, his son came into the ring and then just started to lie dead next to me. I’m like, ‘You f****** little a******, I’ll whoop your ass if your dad don’t do it for you.’ I looked for his kid, I pointed at him, and I saw him and I was like, ‘Hey, hey, hey,’ just to remind him."
Catch Israel Adesanya's comments below:
Israel Adesanya got his revenge on Alex Pereira's son by playing dead after knocking his dad out at #UFC287 as a “reminder” for mocking him after a previous fight. Izzy said “I'm petty bro” 🤣😂
https://t.co/sV3FPd1y4Q