Israel Adesanya is hoping to see Alex Pereira inside the Octagon soon.
The former GLORY two-weight champion made his UFC debut this past weekend at UFC 268 as he took on Andreas Michailidis in a middleweight encounter.
The contest didn’t last too long as Pereira eventually landed a flying knee early in the second round to earn an impressive knockout victory.
One person who was notably watching was current UFC middleweight champion Adesanya, who happens to have two losses against Pereira from their kickboxing days.
The one in particular everyone remembers, is the left hook from Pereira that put Adesanya to sleep back in 2017 — the only time “The Last Stylebender” had ever been knocked out in combat sports.
Despite that, Adesanya was full of praise for Pereira and is welcoming of having him potentially emerge as a new contender.
“We talked about this like two days ago,” Adesanya said following the knockout while looking unsurprised. “We need something new. Especially after you lap the division again.”
Adesanya Destined To Meet Pereira In MMA?
Adesanya’s name has been linked with Pereira for a while with many believing they are destined to face each other again.
At the end of the video, Adesanya concluded his thoughts by returning to his old foe and hoping they do end up facing each other in mixed martial arts.
He also had some thoughts on his knockout defeat to Pereira and the general perception surrounding it.
“Good job Pereira, that was nice,” he said. “One thing I notice is everyone always holds on to that win he has over me like it’s the be all, end all. But I hope he does well. I hope he does well through the ranks. In the next four fights, I hope to see him.
“They’ll show you the knockout, but they won’t show you what happened before the finish. I hurt him, but if you notice, I only throw these [hands] because I was infiltrated by other people’s thoughts. But that was when I was younger. Not anymore. It’s different now. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”
You can watch the full reaction below:
