Former undisputed middleweight champion, Alex Pereira has insisted that despite suffering a thunderous second round KO loss to Israel Adesanya at UFC 287 earlier this month, he is still better than the two-time division champion – pointing to his three prior successes against the latter.
Pereira, a former undisputed middleweight champion under the promotion’s banner, headlined UFC 287 against Adesanya earlier this month in Miami, Florida – dropping his undisputed title in a stunning, second round knockout loss to the City Kickboxing staple.
The matchup came as the fourth time Pereira and Adesanya traded leather, with the Brazilian landing three shutout consecutive victories before his loss at UFC 287.
Chalking his first triumph as part of their four-fight series with his knockout win, Adesanya balked at an immediate championship trilogy fight with Alex Pereira off the back of UFC 287, with the Sao Paulo native in turn, set to make a light heavyweight division leap.
Alex Pereira reminds Israel Adesanya of the score from their four-fight series
Taking solace in his sole win over Pereira in ‘The Sunshine State’, Adesanya has been told to steady his celebrations by the Brazilian – who reminded him of the 3-1 deficit he still finds himself up against off the back of UFC 287.
“We are the best,” Alex Pereira tweeted, accompanied by footage of his prior fights with Israel Adesanya. “But I’m still better. Numbers don’t lie. 3:1.”
Yet to book his impending light heavyweight debut, Pereira has been tipped to avoid a potential fight with former vacant title chaser, Magomed Ankalaev in his promotional debut, however, has been backed to improve the division by former champion, Jiri Prochazka to boot.
As for Nigerian-Kiwi striker, Adesanya, the two-time middleweight champion is expected to fight the winner of a Robert Whittaker versus Dricus du Plessis title-eliminator later this year, in an earmarked Sydney, Australia outing for the UFC.