Kickboxer Who Knocked Out Israel Adesanya Says He Can Do It Again In UFC

GLORY middleweight and interim light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira knocked out Israel Adesanya in the kickboxing world and believes he can do it again in mixed martial arts (MMA).

Pereira, 32, is not known by many in the MMA world. But most who do know him primarily for being the only person to hand Adesanya a knockout defeat in the kickboxing world when they fought in 2017.

Since then, Adesanya would sign with the UFC and enjoy a meteoric rise that culminated in him becoming middleweight champion following an impressive knockout of Robert Whittaker at UFC 243 back in October.

“Stylebender” is one of the best strikers in the sport right now, but for Pereira, he’s nothing special when it comes to simply kickboxing:

“For the sport of MMA, Adesanya is one of the best strikers in the sport, but for kickboxing, he is like many others – a guy that’s good, but over a long time didn’t evolve,” Pereira told MMA Junkie. “He’s just one of many.

“I’m not criticizing Adesanya. I know that when you go to MMA, it’s normal that your striking, due to the wholeness of the game, it downgrades a little bit. I’m sure when I go to MMA, my striking is also going to go down a little bit, so maybe that’s what happened to Adesanya, too.”

Although he is happy at GLORY, Pereira certainly expects to make the move to MMA at some point. In fact, his current contract even allows him two MMA fights per year.

And facing Adesanya in a rematch would be the smart move — this time, in the Octagon. But don’t expect to see a different result:

“The only place in this world that Adesanya is better than me is in speaking English,” Pereira added.

Would you like to see this rematch in MMA?