“He spoke badly about Brazil, about me… When he fell, I really let go” – Alex Pereira on his knockout win over Israel Adesanya


“He spoke badly about Brazil, about me… When he fell, I really let go” – Alex Pereira on his knockout win over Israel Adesanya

Israel Adesanya (L) and Alex Pereira (hands raised)

Alex Pereira holds the distinction of being the only man to knock Israel Adesanya out. Although, it was during the middleweight champion’s kickboxing career, the KO was so brutal that, it had everyone talking back then; in fact people still are. Now, Pereira has joined the UFC, and is set to take on Andreas Michailidis on the 6th of November, 2021.

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In a recent interview with Combate, Alex Pereira spoke about Israel Adesanya. Having beaten him twice, Pereira spoke especially about the second win, which was the knockout victory. The Brazilian claimed that Adesanya disrespected his country, and it got him fired up.

“I already beat him twice in kickboxing” – Alex Pereira

Pereira was quoted as saying, “I already beat him twice in kickboxing, one by unanimous decision, the other by knockout. When we fought, he started well, he was beating me, but even though I got beaten up a lot, I didn’t get tired. But he, without having been beaten, got tired. On the way back to the third round, I went up and he was slower. I knocked him out and let it out because he likes to tease, especially when weighing. He spoke badly about Brazil, about me… When he fell, I really let go. [via Combate]

He continued, “I want to make it very clear that I didn’t come to the UFC because of Adesanya. I came to be champion. If he’s the champion when I get there, fine. But it might not be. Who has to think about me is him, who lost twice, not me.” [via Combate]

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Pereira has experience in MMA as well. He has four fights to his name. Having lost his first-ever MMA fight, he went on to win the next 3 fights. His record currently stands at 3 wins and 1 loss. However, things in UFC will be a different dynamic, and Pereira will be wary of that.

Adesanya, on the other hand, is expected to face Robert Whittaker for the middleweight title next. His career has come a long way since being knocked out by Pereira. Just two and a half years, after lying knocked out cold, Adesanya became the middleweight champion and is still undefeated in the middleweight division.

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