Israel Adesanya’s reaction to Alex Pereira’s impressive win over Jiri Prochazka has a lot of fans unimpressed with the former middleweight champion.
There was once a time when Pereira was only notable because he held wins over Adesanya years ago in kickboxing. Those days are long gone as “Poatan” is on the verge of becoming a bigger star than “The Last Stylebender.”
Pereira beat Adesanya twice in kickboxing, knocking a young Izzy out cold in their second fight. The Brazilian then fought his way into the UFC and up to a title fight against Adesanya … knocking “Stylebender” out again to win the middleweight title.
Adesanya would bounce back to defeat Pereira in the rematch, making him 1-3 across combat sports. And then he declared he wouldn’t fight his stone-faced nemesis again. The loss didn’t slow Pereira down: he moved up to light heavyweight and captured the belt. He’s now defended it twice, which makes him the first champ to do so since Jones vacated the title in August 2020.
The UFC called him when they needed someone to save UFC 300. They called him again to save UFC 303. And we have no doubt he’ll someday step up to heavyweight to try and become a three division UFC champion. In the face of all that, Israel Adesanya posting a stylized video of his sole win over Pereira comes across as petty.
It all goes back to the early days of Adesanya’s UFC career, where he said Pereira would pop up regularly to chase clout off his name.
“He watches all my fights,” Adesanya said. “And every time I fight, like clockwork, he’ll try and put something out like ‘I beat this guy!’ But I’ve never ever watched any of his fights, ever. So at the end of the day, no one knows who the f— he is. He’s gonna be that guy, when I’m world champion, when I’m a legend, he’s gonna be at some pub talking some s— about ‘I beat that guy on time.’”
Now he’s doing the same thing to Pereira, and we’re not sure if the irony is the point or unintended. Either way, MMA fans let Izzy have it. Take a look at some of the replies, care of X (formerly Twitter):
Izzy becoming more unlikeable each day, what’s the point posting this when God KNOWS you aren’t looking to fight this man again? https://t.co/Lxxs0PGjyI
— Levi Muir (@LeviMuir) June 30, 2024
People have to come to realize that before the Alex Pereira bandwagon started, Alex would post his KO over Adesanya after every victory of his.
Adesanya is treating Alex the same way Alex treated him https://t.co/2wwH6O6PlL
— King (@KingB_GFX) June 30, 2024
