Former two-time middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya has hinted he may have been carrying an injury into his title fight return at UFC 305 earlier this month, after former-foe, Alex Pereira noted the usually kick-heavy striker failed to utilize his lower limbs to great effect in his return to action.
Adesanya, a former two-time undisputed middleweight titleholder the banner of the promotion, headlined UFC 305 in Perth, Australia earlier this month — taking on divisional champion and arch-rival, Dricus du Plessis.
And suffering a second consecutive loss for the first time in his decorated mixed martial arts career, City Kickboxing star, Adesanya was stopped with a fourth round rear-naked choke submission — dropping his first stoppage loss via that method in his career in combat sports.
And earlier this week, Israel Adesanya’s former opponent, Pereira speculated that the former champion was likely suffering from an undisclosed injury ahead of his fight with du Plessis at UFC 305.
“Of course, I don’t know how (Israel) Adesanya was,” Alex Pereira said on his YouTube channel. “When we are there, we don’t talk about injuries, don’t talk about problems. We are there. We want to fight, want to win — no excuses. Maybe Adesanya had an injury. You could see he kicked very little.”
Israel Adesanya hints at injury setback ahead of UFC 305
And reacting to Pereira’s claims, Adesanya appeared to give those theories some real credence, without showing his hand completely.
It’s weird how this guy (Alex Pereira) knows me… it’s like we’ve spent hours studying each other’s moves and fought multiple times or sumn’,” Israel Adesanya posted on his official X account. “I mean that.”
It’s weird how this guy knows me…it’s like we’ve spent hours studying eachother’s moves and fought multiple times or sumn’. I mean that.
https://t.co/Up7U8DyT2Q
— Israel Adesanya (@stylebender) August 25, 2024
Himself slated to return in the main event of UFC 307, former middleweight champion, Pereira is set to defend his undisputed light heavyweight championship in a title fight against the surging knockout artist, Khalil Rountree in in October in Salt Lake City, Utah.