Alex Pereira shared the cage and ring with Israel Adesanya multiple times throughout his combat sports career, and over time, things turned from a combat rivalry to more of a kinship.
Pereira, who split two octagon fights with Adesanya over a five-month span, is now set to face Ciryl Gane for the interim heavyweight title at UFC White House this Sunday. While Pereira looks to make history with a potential third divisional title win, Adesanya’s career has taken a different direction, as he’s lost four straight fights, and five of his past six, while being stopped in four of those contests.
“Poatan” understands the ups and downs the sport can bring to any fighter, including one as accomplished as his fellow former UFC middleweight champion, and was asked his thoughts on Adesanya’s recent skid.
“Who am I to say, brother?” Pereira told MMA Fighting. “Like the guy had a brilliant career, you know what I mean? That can happen to anybody. I just signed [for] eight fights, that can happen to me tomorrow.
“Who says that I’m gonna win eight fights in a row? I can start losing. [These are] things that can happen, you know what I mean?”
After multiple wins in the kickboxing world over Adesanya, Pereira rose up the ranks to win the 185-pound title from Adesanya with a fifth-round stoppage at UFC 281 in November 2022. Five months later, they ran it back, and Adesanya got his revenge with the Knockout of the Year candidate in his title-reclaiming victory at UFC 287.
Pereira made the move up to light heavyweight, where he became a two-time champion. In his most recent bout, Pereira ran over Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 320 this past October, needing just 80 seconds to get it done. Now, the 38-year-old looks to become the UFC’s first-ever three-division titleholder.
As far as Adesanya goes, Pereira respects everything his greatest career rival has accomplished in the UFC, and combat sports in general.
“The guy’s had great moments,” Pereira said, “He’s had a great career, a great success, and he has my respect.”
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