“I gave him the chance,” Alex Pereira unbothered about Israel Adesanya MMA trilogy after ex-champ’s nonchalance

After Israel Adesanya's nonchalant disengagements, Alex Pereira cedes his active callouts

“I gave him the chance,” Alex Pereira unbothered about Israel Adesanya MMA trilogy after ex-champ’s nonchalance

Alex Pereira foresakes active callout of Israel Adesanaya (Source: Twitter)

When it comes to old rival Israel Adesanya, champion Alex Pereira is chalking it up all to his rival. After his devastating 2nd-round KO of Jiri Prochazka at UFC 295, “Poatan” immediately made a callout. This was for the completion of their trilogy bout. But now, matters have simmered down substantially.

Pereira defeated Adesanya at UFC 281 to become middleweight champion before relinquishing the belt to “The Last Stylebender” at UFC 287. Adesanya himself is on a self-imposed sabbatical after losing his middleweight gold to Sean Strickland at UFC 293. Pereira, the 9-2 kickboxer had time and again made callouts but in vain.

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Speaking at a recent Q&A in France hosted by Ares FC (h/t MMAFighting), this is what he had to say through a translator:

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It doesn’t matter for me...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...
Alex Pereira on Israel Adesanya

On a previous outing with The MMA Hour’s Ariel Helwani, Adesanya had indulged in fighting Pereira at 205lb. That is if the latter was able to capture the divisional gold. Conversely, he has yet to show any interest in the newly minted light heavyweight champion.

Adesanya had recently in fact laughed and mocked away at the recent callout. Now, Pereira is leaving it up to the rival if and when they face off again.

Alex Pereira and Ciryl Gane spoof a face-off, after a Q&A session

Alex “Poatan” Pereira recently bagged the vacant light heavyweight gold at UFC 295. This makes the former middleweight the 9th two-division champion within the promotion. Pereira is also a GLORY kickboxing Hall of Fame inductee. Many fans thus naturally tout the cohesive notion of him rising towards 3-division glory soon.

Alex Pereira poses in stand-off with Ciryll Gane
Alex Pereira poses in stand-off with Ciryll Gane (Source: IMAGO/Twitter)

Adding fuel to fire over this fodder of dreamscape matchup pairings, is Ciryll Gane. The former interim heavyweight champion was in attendance at Ares FC 18 pre-weigh-ins, in France. After a round of questionnaires, he and Pereira posed for a light-hearted face-off. Check out a snap of the interaction below.

Having triumphed over the 185lber and 205lber title golds, Pereira can entirely and probably aspire for more. Meanwhile, Gane has current interim titleholder Tom Aspinall to look out for as a future prospect.

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