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Alex Pereira has closed the door on a direct blended martial arts rubber match with Israel Adesanya, however he cracked the lid on a possible super-fight down the road. On Wednesday, Pereira formally introduced his transfer to the sunshine heavyweight division after shedding the UFC middleweight championship to Israel Adesanya at UFC 287.
Adesanya scored a cathartic measure of revenge in opposition to Pereira in Miami, knocking out the person who beat him thrice throughout kickboxing and MMA. There have been issues surrounding Pereira’s consolation in making the middleweight restrict, however he brushed these off when asserting his transition to 205 kilos.
“Many folks questioned [my weight cut] however I all the time went there and fulfilled my obligation, however now is a superb second to maneuver up a division,” Pereira mentioned in Portuguese in a YouTube video translated by MMA Fighting. “You see Adesanya’s post-fight provocations, he treats this win prefer it’s 3-1 for him and it is not fairly like that. I perceive his pleasure — or attempt to perceive it — it was his dream to win as soon as in opposition to me and he is accomplished it, however let’s see what his habits is now.”
Pereira is assured that a direct rematch with Adesanya may have been organized had he remained at middleweight.
“I’m transferring up a division now, and that is my choice, however I’m certain that if I stayed on this division I can may combat him instantly. Let’s see how he behaves,” Pereira mentioned. “I’m not going up as a result of I am unable to make the load anymore. I could make the load at any second.
“He’s behaving like that as a result of Dana White talked about my weight proper after the combat and it appears like he thinks, ‘This man won’t ever make 185 once more so I’ll provoke him and there’s nothing he can do’. I’m certain I may combat him instantly if I insisted on this, the group and my managers would make this combat.”
Pereira, a two-division Glory kickboxing champion, was an elite striker who dabbled in MMA earlier than signing full-time with UFC in November 2021. Pereira knocked out Adesanya to seize the UFC middleweight championship in simply his fourth UFC combat and eighth total in MMA. There are loads of story-rich matchups for Pereira at gentle heavyweight as he prepares for a revenge tour in opposition to reigning gentle heavyweight champion Jamahal Hill and former champion Jiri Prochazka, the final two males to defeat Pereira’s mentor Glover Teixeira.
