Alex Pereira is expected to face Israel Adesanya for the UFC middleweight gold after stopping Sean Strickland in brutal fashion at UFC 276 earlier this month in Las Vegas, and he had a lot to say about “The Last Stylebender’s” recent performances inside the octagon on that same night.
Victorious in a decision against Jared Cannonier in the main event, Adesanya is now 3-0 with a trio of decisions since the only defeat of his MMA career, an attempt to claim the light heavyweight belt against Jan Blachowicz in MMA. Adesanya stated that he was happy with his performance over Cannonier, despite the public outcry. “Poatan,” however, said that he shouldn’t have been.
” I was at the [cageside] fight and it did not impress me,” Pereira stated on this week’s Trocacao Franca episode of MMA Fighting Podcast. “It didn’t excite me nor the fans. After the fourth round, there was video showing people leaving the arena in lines. Many people pay high prices for tickets, and want to be there until the end to witness the final round. For people to act like that it’s because it wasn’t exciting.”
Adesanya said that Pereira’s victory in the first round was not surprising because of his opponent. The Brazilian middleweight, who is just 6-1 as a mixed martial artist but holds two kickboxing victories over the Nigerian star, doesn’t buy it.
“He wouldn’t give me any props but his thoughts or lack thereof don’t matter to me.” Pereira stated. You have to question him whether he was pleased when I knocked his out. Did he seem impressed? If he wasn’t, he’s sick. If he was impressed in his own fight [at UFC 276], that’s good enough to me.”
Asked who’s to blame for the 25-minute clash to go on like that, “Poatan” said Adesanya is really giving his all inside the octagon, but it just isn’t enough to stop the likes of Marvin Vettori and Jared Cannonier, his most recent challengers.
“I’ll tell you this, I think he’s giving his all in his fights but sometimes his all isn’t just to attack, it’s about the defense, because that’s the toughest part,” Pereira said. To defend himself is what he does best. He is a total guy. You see, grapplers who fought him didn’t do well because he’s different, he’s good.
“But, what is he doing? Just like in my fight, I was given the chance to KO [Strickland],, but I said [before the fight] that I would fight for three rounds. He went down, the referee didn’t stop it, am I going to let him get back up? No. Of course not.
“You think he wouldn’t KO the guy if he could? “Oh, it’s going to look easy.’ He didn’t want [to KO him]? Of course he did, but the other guy didn’t let him do it. He’s giving his best in there. It’s impossible to control. What he’s doing there is his best. Who wouldn’t want ? If you can have the power to retain the title by submission or knockout, who wouldn’t want that?”
Pereira said he’s waiting for the call to set the date and location for his bout with Adesanya and would be open to re-entering the octagon in two months’ time, but doubts the champion would return so soon to face someone like him. The Brazilian, however, expects to get his shot before the end of the year.
“Poatan doesn’t think the eagerly awaited clash will do badly in terms of pay per view sales, despite the champion’s lackluster performances. UFC fans will continue to “give [fighters] another opportunity” and tune in eventually. He is also certain that this trio of fights will be exciting.
” People are viewing [my UFC fights] to see if it is going well, he stated. “People saw my fights with him and how it went. Even the first one, I didn’t win by knockout, it was by points, but it was a fight that excited everybody. This is going to be an exciting fight .”
