“Screwed his mind” – Alex Pereira plays mental warfare with Israel Adesanya at UFC 281 press conference


“Screwed his mind” – Alex Pereira plays mental warfare with Israel Adesanya at UFC 281 press conference

Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira face off at UFC 281 press conference

Alex Pereira and Israel Adesanya met face-to-face for the first time ahead of their much-anticipated middleweight title fight at UFC 281. Pereira looked confident with his “trash talk” and believes he already has the upper hand in the fight.

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This is not the first time Alex Pereira and Israel Adesanya will be fighting each other. In the two past meetings in kickboxing, the UFC title contender has got the better of the Kiwi-Nigerian in which one of them includes a devastating knockout blow. At UFC 281, Pereira returns to haunt Adesanya and show the world who the better middleweight is.

The press conference for the upcoming pay-per-view event took place earlier today and the stage was packed with stars from the card. Pereira recounted his victories against Adesanya and claimed that the UFC champ is still haunted by the devastating knockout defeat. “I think I screwed his mind a little bit and he’s already unbalanced psychologically in this one,” said Pereira.

“Poatan” taking on “Stylebender” was bound to happen the day he made his debut in the UFC. This fight has a lot of hype and history behind it. While Pereira looks to assert his dominance again, Adesanya is looking to turn the table around in his rivalry against the Brazilian.

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Read more: “Athletes tell the craziest lies to her” – Israel Adesanya hysterically reveals to Taylor Rooks he once “busted a nut” to make weight

Israel Adesanya believes Alex Pereira is not his toughest challenge

Israel Adesanya (L), Alex Pereira (R)
Israel Adesanya (L), Alex Pereira (R)

Despite the Brazilian middleweight having two victories over Adesanya in his professional career, the UFC champ believes Alex Pereira is only “one dimensional” in the sport of mixed martial arts. Pereira is only 6-1 in his professional MMA career while Adesanya is a veteran of the sport.

Talking to ESPN, Adesanya said, “He’s very one-dimensional. He’s early on in this game as well so I’m even glad to get him now.” Pereira will have the former light heavyweight champion Glover Teixeira in his corner but Adesanya doesn’t think that will help “Poatan” in his fight against him. Adesanya also believes his fight IQ is better than Pereira’s.

Also read: Israel Adesanya vows to “make a HORROR movie” out of fight against Alex Pereira at UFC 281

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Adesanya and Pereira will headline the UFC 281 PPV event which will be held at the Meccah of Fighting, Madison Square Garden in New York City. The middleweight title fight will be co-headlined by the strawweight title fight between Carla Esparza and Zhang Weili.

Also read: “Saltiest sh*t ever” – Fans are FURIOUS with Daniel Cormier for snubbing Jon Jones from best fighters of all-time list and adding Khabib Nurmagomedov