Alex Pereira and Israel Adesanya were bound to meet each other after they were spotted in Melbourne, Australia.
Pereira visited the Melbourne Storm rugby team last week. His rival, middleweight champion Adesanya, has spent time training with the New Zealand Warriors. Both men were in attendance for the boxing match between Joseph Parker and Fayga Obello last Wednesday, in which Parker stopped Obello in the first round in Australia.
The duo didn’t cross paths until the airport, and each shared their experiences from their respective lenses on video.
Guess who I met at the airport? 👀 pic.twitter.com/c2xr4MAVUs
– Alex “Boatan” Pereira (AlexPereiraUFC) May 29, 2023
💘💘💘❤️🔥
My life is a video game 🎮 pic.twitter.com/MoIdUniTJv– Israel Adesanya (stylebender) May 29, 2023
Adesanya (23-2 MMA, 12-2 UFC) and Pereira (7-2 MMA, 4-1 UFC) have fought four times: twice in kickboxing and twice in the UFC. Pereira entered the UFC after already beating Adesanya twice in kickboxing, then knocked him out to come back to claim the 185-pound title at UFC 281.
But Adesanya was finally able to get his revenge when the duo returned to UFC 287. In that fight, Adesanya raised his knockout hand.
Their rivalry paused for a moment. Pereira will make his light heavyweight debut in his next fight. He meets former champ Jan Blachovic at UFC 291 on July 29 at Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City.
For more information on the card, visit the MMA Junkie Event Center for UFC 291.
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