If Glover Teixeira could write the script, Israel Adesanya would be first on Alex Pereira’s list – not Khamzat Chimaev.
The former light heavyweight champion wants to see Pereira to live up to his full potential, which means not ceding a round to the now-former middleweight champion.
“I’d like to see that fight again just to make some adjustments,” Teixeira said on The MMA Hour. “Alex, he’s crazy, man. He watches the fight every time he comes to my house. We hang out all the time. Although we don’t do a lot, we still hang out. I’ll call Alex and ask him, “Hey Alex. What are you doing?” Bring the kids, I’ll make some hamburgers, we’ll hang out.’ I like to hang out and talk s***. But he sits down in front of the TV and says, ‘Hey, can you put my fight on?’ I’m like, ‘Bro, we’ve already watched that fight like 500 times.’ And he keeps watching it. [He says], “Right there you can see that Glover ?’
“I think that fight happens right away right now, I think Alex would beat him all the rounds. That’s why I want to see it again. Glover? You decide. I would say, let’s go with Adesanya once again. I really want to see Alex beat this man. Nothing against Adesanya. He does an amazing job. As a fighter and coach as well as friend, I know that he is capable of beating me, and likely won’t lose one round .
Adesanya was ahead 3-1 on judges’ scorecards before his improbable fifth-round comeback at UFC 281. Teixeira leapt over the fence to celebrate his student’s victory. Two years ago Pereira arrived at Teixeira’s Danbury, Conn., Gym with a lengthy kickboxing history – two victories over Adesanya squared circle – but he had not developed his MMA skills.
” I think that Alex would have won the fight in the same way as I did. I could either go into the first round and defeat him or get in the second and knock him out. But I’m not so sure about it,” Teixeira stated. But the fight was moving along, and I kept saying to him: “C’mon Alex! You’ve got the gun!” Because I knew his power. I understand his potential .”
Pereira stopped Adesanya with a flurry of shots for a standing TKO. UFC President Dana White was open to a rematch immediately after the fight. However, he did not provide a timetable.
With the victory edging out defeat, potential contenders grabbed the opportunity. Welterweight contender Khamzat Chimaev, a sometime middleweight, volunteered to move up in weight to take on Pereira and capture another belt. The callout got an immediate response, prompting Pereira to claim Chimaev turned down a light heavyweight fight at UFC 283.
Teixeira was taken aback by Pereira’s sudden shift.
“This fight is all talk,” he said about Pereira vs. Chimaev. I don’t usually engage in talk that makes no sense. But to the light heavyweight, this man said he agreed. Alex called Jorge once and said, “Hey Jorge! Let’s fight Brazil .’
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” I said, “What are you doing?” You fight in Brazil? Your legs are hurt. You kicked so much, your shins are hurt. Your injuries are still there. Just chill for a while.’ And he’s like, ‘Yeah, but this guy’s talking, I’ll fight him at 205. I don’t want to cut the weight.’ I said, ‘Yeah, you can’t cut the weight.’ … Alex is a very strong mind.”
Teixeira does foresee a time when Pereira will physically be unable to make the middleweight limit.
“Eventually, yes,” he said. “He’s much too big, and eventually, that weight cut is going to stress him out and he’s going to talk about 205. … When we started doing wrestling workouts with him, he started getting muscles, massive. He got at least 10 to 15 pounds of muscle before he started doing the wrestling. He used to kickbox, run, and kickbox before he started wrestling. It was more of cardio. Now, he’s got to do all these weights, sprawl, all these crazy things, and he’s getting bigger and bigger.”
Teixeira is keen to make a bigger statement and Adesanya is the opposition.
Source: https://www.mmafighting.com/2022/12/1/23487432/glover-teixeira-wants-alex-pereira-to-rematch-israel-adesanya-not-fight-khamzat-chimaev?rand=96749
