The rivalry between UFC Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya and former reigning champion Alex Pereira is as real as it gets, but that doesn’t mean the two can’t be friendly outside of competition.
Earlier this week, the two world-class forwards had an inconvenient flight in Los Angeles and had the chance to step back. Thankfully, Adesanya and Pereira stayed calm and even had a moment of cuddling before sharing a laugh or two. Other competitors in the sport could have caused an airport brawl in this type of situation, but the two fighters were very professional about it.
“We were both in Australia and in the same hotel, and some of my crew had seen him there, but we never met there,” Pereira said. MMA fighting. “When we were leaving, in Los Angeles [to] New York Connection We met in line and said hi we had a few laughs. I got there first, he got in next, and greeted us.”
In total, Adesanya and Pereira have fought each other four times. Pereira beat “Last Stylebender” twice in kickboxing before pulling off a shock knockout victory over Adesanya again at UFC 281 for the 185-pound title. The fourth installment came at UFC 287 this past April when Adesanya finally got his revenge stopping “Poatan” with a vicious second-round knockout to win back the middleweight belt.
Despite being friendly during their airport encounter earlier this week, Pereira is adamant that his rivalry with Adesanya will never die.
“The rivalry will always be there,” Pereira said. “I’m fighting [Jan Blachowicz] Now, I have to compete with the man I’m fighting, you know? He’s out there and he wants to kill me, and I want to do the same to him. How am I going to treat him [nicely]? I must be mean there.
“It’s the same with Adesanya. For example, if I were to fight him again, we’d have a rivalry. But now why? We’ll meet; Adesanya, he’s there with a teammate, I’m in the same place, and we can’t [cross paths] Because we’re going to destroy the whole place and beat each other up? This does not exist. This kind of rivalry does not exist with me.”
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