Israel Adesanya defeated Alex Pereira by knockout to reclaim his UFC middleweight title. Photo / Getty Images
Israel Adesanya defeated Alex Pereira by knockout to reclaim his UFC middleweight title. Photo / Getty Images
Israel Adesanya has been labelled a child by Alex Pereira for his actions following his stunning knockout victory at UFC 287 — but there is no bad blood between the fighters.
Adesanya finally got his revenge against Pereira — after losing three straight fights to the Brazilian in kickboxing and MMA — with a second-round knockout to reclaim his UFC middleweight belt in Miami on Sunday.
Moments after the highlight finish, Adesanya made a point of staring straight at Pereira’s son and flopping to the canvas, mimicking the same celebration the child did after his father’s knockout victory against the Kiwi years earlier in Brazil.
Adesanya admitted the act was “petty”, saying he did it “just to remind him”.
6 years ago, alex pereira knocked out israel adesanya and alex’s son jumped in the ring to imitate the way izzy went unconscious. last night izzy knocked out his dad, and mocked him backpic.twitter.com/TDjTtkT5Fb
Despite Adesanya receiving criticism for the celebration, Pereira wasn’t too bothered by it, but said he wouldn’t have acted the same way if he was in his shoes.
“Honestly, I wouldn’t do the same,” Pereira said when addressing the defeat on his YouTube channel. “I can play with him like I’ve always played. I’ve teased him, but I don’t know, he’s another child. I don’t know what his feelings were. He was enduring this for seven years and I saw his joy after the knockout. That was his dream. That was his dream and he made it, but we’re comparing him with a child who was 5 years old at the time, right?”
Israel Adesanya reacts after knocking out Alex Pereira. Photo / Getty Images
Pereira said he even stopped his son from doing the same celebration after his TKO victory over Adesanya last November at UFC 281.
“I don’t have that mind. I can prove it because today he’s 12 years old and before the fight I saw that he was being influenced by other people, sometimes he even participated in some interviews and some reporters asked [my son], ‘Are you going to do this again?’ and he laughed. He’s a kid and he thinks it’s funny.
“I knocked him out [at UFC 281], I won the belt, and my kid wanted to do the same thing up there. I told him, ‘No, stop, don’t do it. Stay here, don’t do anything.’ I’m a conscious guy about everything I’m saying here, and I wouldn’t do it. If he did it and felt better that way, ok, it’s a relief he had. And if he thinks it’s better for him, ok, that won’t change anything for me.”
Despite the long-running rivalry, it was all respect between Adesanya and Pereira after the fight, with the two fighters exchanging kind words backstage before embracing.
Adesanya even suggested that he would like to learn Pereira’s leg kicks, which caused issues for him before his win.
Pereira said he was open to training with Adesanya and that the two were not “rivals” in his eyes.
“If we train together or not, it’s up to him,” Pereira said. “I’m always willing to be good with everyone, honestly ... I can already guarantee from my part I don’t have bad feelings about nobody. Sometimes some people don’t accept things and want to walk away, this is ok for me too.
“They asked me a lot of times about the rivalry. I don’t have a rivalry with anyone. I’m not a rival of Adesanya — he’s my rival at the time — he hadn’t won any fights and he had this hurt. Maybe today after having a victory over me, maybe his mind will change. I don’t know. If he will change, it will be cool.”
