Israel Adesanya Catches Flak For Forced Reaction To Alex Pereira’s KO Win At UFC 303

Despite the knockout being one of the best ones this year, Israel Adesanya didn’t seem to get too excited at all about what Pereira did to Prochazka at UFC 303.

Israel Adesanya Calls Alex Pereira A ‘Special Fighter’

Although Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira have fought each other twice in kickboxing and twice in MMA and are rivals, ‘The Last Stylebender’ had nothing but praise for the Brazilian.

During an appearance on Demetrious Johnson’s MightyCast in April, Adesanya heaped praise on Pereira and their rivalry as he called him a special fighter.

“Honestly, he’s a special fighter,” Adesanya told Demetrious Johnson on the MightyCast (via MMAFighting). “He’s a special human being. What he’s done in this game, in fighting and for his life, as well, I’ll always respect him. I’m grateful for those moments because for me, it taught me so much about myself and where I can go. Same with the Kelvin Gastelum fight, it let me know I can go more. That one, I was ready to die, but this one, I just knew, ‘There’s no f****** way, this guy, I swear to God, I will die… fourth time’s a charm.”

“Then I knew, ‘Israel, there’s levels. You can go more. You can go more. So stay tuned.’ It’s not going to take another seven years before I get [Sean] Strickland. Stay tuned, you watch,” Adesanya added.

Adesanya did get the last laugh against Pereira as he knocked the Brazilian out to reclaim the middleweight title at UFC 287.