Israel Adesanya reveals nerve injury suffered at UFC 281 hampered fight with Alex Pereira
Former undisputed UFC middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya has revealed a peroneal nerve injury inflicted by Alex Pereira during their UFC 281 main event back in November of last year, hampered his final round performance at Madison Square Garden, prior to his TKO loss.
Adesanya, a former undisputed middleweight champion under the banner of the UFC, headlines UFC 287 next weekend against Sao Paulo knockout artist, Pereira in an immediate championship rematch.
Taking main event honors at the Miami, Florida event, Adesanya will look to snap a run of threen consecutive losses to the Brazilian over the course of their respective combat sports careers.
Featuring twice against Pereira during their respective kickboxing careers, Adesanya first dropped a dubious decision loss to the Brazilian, before then suffering a KO loss in their rematch.
Establishing an impressive lead on all three judge’s scorecards against Pereira back in November of last year, Adesanya was eventually stopped at the fence in the fifth round with a barrage of strikes – resulting in a TKO loss.
Israel Adesanya details peroneal nerve injury suffered at UFC 281
However, rewatching footage of his Madison Square Garden clash with the former duel-weight GLORY Kickboxing champion, Pereira, Adesanya claimed he was dealing with a peroneal nerve injury – inflicted by the former prior to his TKO blemish.
“The second one [leg kick] got me, I felt it, I felt like a shock,” Israel Adesanya said on his YouTube channel. “That was the one that was like, ‘Ooh.’ With the nerve – then my legs started to give [in] right there, I was still fine.”
“I remember that, um, but yeah, I was taking it to him (Alex Pereira), beating him up, taking his legs,” Israel Adesanya continued. “His leg was compromised as well but mine just – he actually affected the movement by striking the nerve.” (Transcribed by Middleeasy)
Maintaining he likely has just a single opportunity remaining in order to hand Pereira a defeat, Adesanya claimed he wanted to take the Brazilian’s “head” before then moving on and fighting other opponents at the middleweight limit.
