The pragmatic Pereira isn’t bothered at all by Adesanya’s refusal to complete their MMA trilogy in a light heavyweight title fight.
UFC light heavyweight champ Alex Pereira and former middleweight champ Israel Adesanya have an extensive history. Pereira went 2-0 against Izzy in kickboxing, brutally knocking him out the second time they fought. Then he came to the UFC and TKO’d Adesanya to take his title. “The Last Stylebender” would get his revenge five months later, KOing “Poatan” in a rematch.
That puts Adesanya at 1-3 overall against Pereira, and the New Zealander seems perfectly content to move on after the most recent and final win. When Pereira won the 205 pound belt and offered Adesanya a title shot, Adesanya lol’d at the suggestion, telling his rival to ‘let it go.’ More recently he posted an elaborate Instagram edit of his win over Pereira with the caption ‘GAME OVER.’
During a promotional appearance at Ares FC in Paris, France, “Poatan” shared his thoughts on Adesanya’s refusal to fight him again.
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— Israel Adesanya (@stylebender) December 20, 2023
“It doesn’t matter for me,” he said through a translator (via MMA Fighting). “I called him out in the cage after the title win, and I wanted to give him the chance, and I saw he was not giving me any respect for this. He was laughing about it and making some jokes. So for me, it doesn’t matter anymore. I gave him the chance. If he comes up? Nice. If he doesn’t, it doesn’t matter.”
“I doubt if he really wants to fight me because, talking serious, he won once against me,” Pereira added. “It was his dream to win against me, [and] he did it. So now getting into this cage again with me, he knows everything can happen, and he can lose again. So I’m really doubting if he’s motivated to fight me again.”
“Like I said, I never choose my opponents. I don’t know what happens in the future, but I never choose. If he wants to fight, I welcome him in the cage.”
Pereira just won the light heavyweight title in November, so it may be a while before we see him defend it in the cage. Potential opponents include former champion Jamahal Hill, who relinquished the title after rupturing his Achilles tendon, or maybe Khalil Rountree if Hill’s recovery is slow.
There will be no moving up a weight class to chase double champ glory: “Poatan” is currently focused on light heavyweight only. His friend and coach Glover Teixeira has teased a heavyweight move several times, but that’s not happening any time soon.
“If my body will change more and my body will say, ‘Man, you can’t fight anymore at light heavyweight,’ OK, I will go up,” he said. “But it’s not the plan at the moment.”