Former UFC middleweight champion, Alex Pereira has challenged Israel Adesanya to come out for one final bout to settle the score between them.
Adesanya, a kickboxer with Nigerian ancestry who had a spectacular 11-match winning streak in kickboxing, took on Alex Pereira for the first bout on April 2, 2016, at Glory of Heroes 1 in Shenzhen, China. Unfortunately, Pereira won the bout by a unanimous vote.
On March 4, 2017, Adesanya was given another chance against the Brazilian fighter at Glory of Heroes 7 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. But in the third round, Pereira used a left hook to knock out the Nigerian-born Australia kick-boxer.
On November 12, 2022, in New York, Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira’s long-standing animosity was reignited in a professional Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) bout at UFC 281. Unfortunately, Adesanya lost the middleweight title to the Brazilian via a technical knockout.
On April 8, 2023, at UFC 287, Adesanya had another opportunity to reclaim his title against Pereira. The Nigerian-born kick-boxer finally succeeded in beating the Brazilian via a knockout to regain his UFC middleweight championship title after losing to the Brazilian twice in kick-boxing, and once in the MMA.
Days after the bout, Adesanya made fun of Pereira by posting a video on his YouTube channel, which has amassed over 1.5 million views, to mock the Brazilian.
In the video, he placed a picture of a knocked-out Pereira in the middle of a crime scene and wrote: “I love this game”.
In his reaction to Adesanya’s post, the Brazilian kick-boxer invited the reigning UFC middleweight champion for a second MMA fight.
The former champion tweeted: “In kickboxing, it’s impossible now to be better than me. In MMA it’s 1:1. Be real with your fans and let’s show the world who is better in MMA.”
