“I lost 3 times to the same guy” – Alex Pereira explains why Israel Adesanya will never beat him no matter how many times they fight
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Alex Pereira and Israel Adesanya at UFC 281 (Image Credits - Yahoo! Sports)
Alex Pereira is ready to give Israel Adesanya another chance to try and defeat him but says The Stylebender has to accept he can’t beat Pereira no matter what. The Brazilian admits he couldn’t beat an amateur fighter despite many tries and the case is the same with Adesanya.
Israel Adesanya faced one of the most brutal losses at UFC 282. The former middleweight champion yet again fell short against his nemesis from his kickboxing career. Alex Pereira made a move to MMA and beat Adesanya at his own game. Adesanya might be fired up for the rematch inside the UFC octagon but Pereira believes his efforts will go in vain.
Explaining why the former champ will never be able to him, Poatan narrated a story about his amateur career. “I have 28 fights in my amateur. I won 25 of them by knockout. I lost 3 fights…3 times to the same guy,” admitted Pereira. Poatan says even if he fought his opponent from his amateur career today, he’d still lose because stylistically, his rival will always be at an advantage.
“Adesanya needs to get that the same way Whittaker did, he just doesn’t accept it,” said Pereira who has 3 wins over Adesanya. Alex Pereira is still the only fighter to knockout Adesanya in his professional career. The two will most likely fight again for the middleweight title in an immediate rematch.
Read more: “It’s my ego, maybe” – Israel Adesanya still believes he’s a better fighter than Alex Pereira
Israel Adesanya reveals what led to defeat against Alex Pereira
Alex Periera knocked out Adesanya in the final round of the fight. What makes the victory sweeter for the Brazilian is he was actually down on the scorecards up until the final round of the fight. Adesanya, who was very careful to not let his nemesis land the “Touch of Death” left hook fell victim to the very shot at the end. Adesanya gave credit to Pereira’s durability and his performance to get him the win.
However, the Last Stylebender mentioned the newly crowned champ’s leg kicks which actually compromised his ability to move swiftly which ended up giving the Brazilian an advantage to land his equalizer. “He hit my peroneal nerve so that’s why footwork wasn’t as sharp as I wanted it to be so I was trying to find ways to get off the fence but my left foot kept on dragging,” said Adesanya in a post-fight interview.
Adesanya surprised everyone with his skills on the ground and comfortably dealt with Pereira’s powerful punches dodging them with his back against the cage. However, Pereira did not give up and finally found the punch he was looking for. Adesanya believes he has spent enough time in the cage with Pereira to finally beat him in the potential rematch.
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Prateek Athanur
(2944 Articles Published)