Alex Pereira: ‘Scared’ Israel Adesanya Doesn’t Want To Fight
Former Glory champion Alex Pereira believes he has what it takes to beat current UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya in MMA.
Pereira got the better of Adesanya on two separate occasions in kickboxing, the first coming via a decision win over ‘The Last Stylebender’ in 2016 before facing off against him just a year later however this time despatching him with a vicious knockout.
The Brazilian made a successful debut on the promotion at UFC 268. After being controlled in the first round on the grappling exchanges by Andreas Michailidis, Pereira was able to execute and land a perfect flying knee in the second to put his opponent out.
Adesanya dismissed the idea of facing Pereira a few months back while speaking to Stake, undoubtedly because he feels he should work his way through the division first. However, after hearing these comments only recently Pereira now believes Adesanya fears him.
“Man, have you seen me laughing before? It’s hard, right?” Pereira said. “How does this guy say he’s anxious to fight me? If I were in his shoes and I was crazy to fight someone, anxious, like he’s saying he is … as soon as I heard ‘Alex Pereira has signed with the UFC,’ [I would’ve said] f***, [book it] right away. The respect he has [within the company], I’d say, ‘Ask him if he wants to fight me now. Forget about Robert Whittaker, cancel this fight, reschedule it. I make the calls. If Alex wants it, I want it.
“F***, man, that’s what you do is you’re anxious to fight [someone]. ‘Oh, I can’t wait to fight Alex, but I’ll fight him [after] 15 fights.’ F***, How is he anxious to do it? What does he want? Look, I’ll tell you this — it’s harder for me to get to him than beating him. He knows that. He knows how I beat him. He fought me twice. He won’t admit how difficult I am. He’s not anxious to fight me. He wants me to slip tomorrow so he can say, ‘Is this the guy you want me to fight? Are you crazy? Go back to the end of the line.’ He’ll run from me.
“Someone crazy for a fight will say, ‘I want this guy, I want to prove I’m better than him,’” Pereira continued. “He’s fooling his fan base. People should pressure him. The least he could do is say, ‘F*ck, I’ll show my fans that I’m the best and that’s why they follow me,’ but that’s not what he’s doing. He’s scared s***. Like Glover [Teixeira] says, he’s scared s***.”
Alex Pereira Confident He Beats Israel Adesanya In MMA
Pereira didn’t mince his words when it came to speaking on the division’s champion but having bested him twice already in kickboxing Pereira enters the world of MMA with extreme confidence and genuine belief, he will beat Adesanya when the time comes.
“Adesanya thought he would never see me again and was comfortable,” Pereira said. “I was watching his fight [with Whittaker] and I was [predicting what he would do] based on his moves, ‘He’ll kick now, he’ll do this’. I see it, you know. I know how to beat him.” (Transcribed by MMAFighting)
Who do you think would win between these two in MMA?
