- Israel Adesanya explained how he planned to knock Alex Pereira out in the second round to reclaim his UFC middleweight title
- Izzy lifted the lid on getting revenge on Pereira’s son
- The middleweight champion is not interested in a trilogy match with “Poatan”
Following his stunning second-round KO win over Alex Pereira at UFC 287 to reclaim his middleweight title, Israel Adesanya revealed to the media what was going on in his mind during and after the fight. As expected, Izzy did it in the most Izzy way.
“Frozen like Elsa”
Speaking to reporters on his post-fight presser, Adesanya described how he planned to slide that devastating right hand that flattened out Pereira. According to “The Last Stylebender,” he had been thinking about the late Muhammad Ali’s “Phantom Punch” and that’s what he did.
“I changed the tactics up a bit and I listened to my corner and I trusted my instinct but there was a moment when I was visualizing this fight I was like, ‘If I get the chance and when I get the chance – George Foreman-Muhammad Ali Phantom Punch.’ Would I just let him slide? But I was like nah f**k that, he wouldn’t have done the same to me. He’ll f**king come for the kill so the honorable thing I could have done was put him out of his misery and after that rub-a-dub moment, I saw him lying flat on the ground Frozen like Elsa,” Adesanya revealed.
The revenge
For those who didn’t know, Pereira’s son mocked Adesanya after the Brazilian knocked Izzy out in their kickboxing match in March 2017. Pereira’s son tried to mimic how Adesanya landed on his back and apparently, the middleweight champ still remembers it.
Alex Peireira son learn a valuable lesson tonight #UFC287 pic.twitter.com/KDgLLUwszq
— High Khabib 🐑 (@HighKhabib) April 9, 2023
When he got the chance to finally get his revenge, Adesanya seized the moment and did exactly what Pereira’s son did to him in 2017.
“I’m petty. I remember the first time he knocked me out in Brazil, his son came into the ring and then just started to lie dead next to me. I’m like, ‘You f****** little a******, I’ll whoop your ass if your dad don’t do it for you.’ I looked for his kid, I pointed at him, and I saw him and I was like, ‘Hey, hey, hey,’ just to remind him,” Adesanya explained.
A trilogy fight isn’t necessary
With Pereira and Adesanya now 1-1 in MMA, fans are wondering if there will be a trilogy fight. According to Izzy, a rubber match won’t happen because Pereira did not even deserve to get an instant title shot during their first meeting. And now that the tables have turned, the champ wants his ultimate rival to earn the hard and the right way.
“I don’t keep score I settle them,” Adesanya pointed out. “Now it’s settled. Look, I gave him a fast-track to the belt, I could have said ‘Nah, who has he fought?’ He fought one top five guy but nah, he did well, fought some alright guys and beat f***ing Strickland.”
He continued, “I was like ‘fine there’s no one else’, I was looking for that challenge, the guy that beat me in kickboxing, that’s why I took that fight. The rematch? I got the immediate rematch because of what I’ve done in this game. I won the belt against Kelvin [Gastelum] and defended it against Rob [Whittaker]. Then it was [Yoel] Romero, [Paolo] Costa, [Marvin] Vettori, Rob again, [Jared Cannonier]; that’s seven! My other belt would have seven f***ing gems on it. I did the hard yards and I earned my f***ing rematch, now he’s got to do the hard yards if he wants to do that and I don’t think he’s going to.”
Prior to avenging his TKO title fight loss to Pereira at UFC 281, Adesanya has gone unbeaten in the middleweight division. He also noted in the past that he only needs one win to settle the score with Pereira, who has beaten him three times in all of their previous matches, and it seems that he is keeping his word.
