Israel Adesanya reflects on rivalry with Alex Pereira: ‘I always knew I could beat him’
Ahead of his return this weekend, Israel Adesanya has fond memories on his four-fight series with foe, Alex Pereira — claiming he always “knew” he could beat the Brazilian — despite dropping a trio of consecutive losses against the Brazilian megastar.
Adesanya, a former two-time undisputed middleweight champion, returns to action this weekend in the main event of UFC Saudi Arabia, making the trip to Riyadh to take on the streaking Russian-French contender, Nassourdine Imavov over the course of five rounds in a pivotal pairing.
Entering the matchup off the back of a two-fight losing skid, City Kickboxing star, Israel Adesanya dropped a recent submission loss to Dricus du Plessis back in August, having suffered a shutout unanimous decision defeat to common-foe, Sean Strickland the summer prior in a championship fight upset.
Israel Adesanya claims he always knew he could stop Alex Pereira
Adesanya would enter that pairing with the polarizing North American striker off the back of his first-ever career win over former duel-weight champion, Pereira — snapping a winless run spanning three-fights against the ex-GLORY Kickboxing favorite, and has fond memories of their lengthy rivalry in combat sports.
“I feel the same way,” Israel Adesanya said during an interview with Ariel Helwani for Uncrowned. “I think God blessed me with a great opponent like Alex Pereira. He blessed me with a great challenge like that. And it’s easy to say that now on this side, but f*ck, you know, it takes a lot to take on that man. And I always knew that it would have history and I always knew I could best him. And I’m glad God blessed me with that challenge, to be able to rise to the occasion.
“And I’m glad we can kind of share even the way we ran to each other at the airport,” Israel Adesanya explained. “Um, like what, two years ago? Three years ago, we were still kind of like beefing, but there was a little we had — this was before he fought Jan (Blachowicz). We had a little conversation after the TSA at LAX or whatever. And then, um, went our own ways. And it was — it was a cordial civil conversation with, uh, limited language barrier, I guess. But, uh, yeah, I respect the guy, and I want the best for him. I like what he’s doing. I like the fact that he’s running through everyone because, again, it just shows how good he is.”
