Israel Adesanya has revealed he offered advice to arch-rival, Alex Pereira ahead of the Brazilian’s return to the Octagon against soon-to-be common-foe, Jan Blachowicz at UFC 291 next month – urging the Sao Paulo native to be “patient” in his approach against the Pole.
Adesanya, a two-time and current undisputed middleweight champion, reclaimed the divisional crown back in April at UFC 287, stopping Brazilian striker, Pereira with a stunning second round KO in Miami, Florida.
In November of last year, Alex Pereira managed to clinch the middleweight title from Adesanya with a stunning fifth round standing TKO win over the latter – rallying to defeat the City Kickboxing staple at Madison Square Garden, just a year after his promotional bow with the UFC.
Israel Adesanya offers advice to Alex Pereira ahead of UFC 291 comeback
And set to make his return to active competition at UFC 291 in July, Pereira, who makes a light heavyweight divisional bow against the aforenoted, Blachowicz, was offered advice on his game plan by Adesanya – during their chance meeting during security screening at an airport in Australia.
“We talked, went through security, took our shoes off,” Israel Adesanya said during an appearance on IMPAULSIVE. “And then we’re waiting for our bags to come through the belt, our and then we talked about – I was like, ‘Jan next, right?’ He’s fighting the guy, first MMA loss for me, when I went up to 205 [pounds]. He kinda has the same idea.”
“Through our limited conversation skills, because of his English and my Portuguese, we kinda had the same idea of what’s gonna happen,” Israel Adesanya explained. “But I had to let him know, I thought the same thing when I fought Jan. I thought Jan was gonna attack me a little bit more but he was patient. So, I kinda let him [Alex Pereira] know, you be patient too, I didn’t wanna say too much, but, yeah.” (Transcribed by MMA News)