Alex Pereira wasn’t happy with Israel Adesanya claiming that their fight was stopped early by referee Marc Goddard
Israel Adesanya wasn’t satisfied by the stoppage of his fight against rival Alex Pereira at UFC 281. According to ‘The Last Stylebender’, he has seen worse stoppages and the referee should have let him go out on his guard. In wake of such comments, Alex Pereira has taken to Instagram to lash out at his rival’s comments.
Pereira defeated Adesanya for the middleweight championship at UFC 281. ‘Poatan’ won by standing TKO after staging an incredible comeback in the fifth round. Adesanya objected immediately to the early stoppage, claiming that he was not in immediate danger. “The Last Stylebender” then spoke with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour about the fight’s conclusion, explaining his thoughts on the outcome.
“Marc did a good job, but you see it when I get up. I’m fine. I was lucid. I didn’t get rocked rocked. I got hit hit against the fence and my thought was, ‘Escape, laterally, either left or right.’ I went right and as I was going right , it wasn’t because I was rocked, it was my foot. You know the peroneal [nerve]? It happened to Michael Chandler, [Henry] Cejudo, our boy, Jimmy Crute, it happened to him as well.” [via MMA Fighting]
“I was waiting for him to take big shots, so I put my head down; I could see his arms and I could see his legs. That’s all I needed to look at. I know where his head is. So I’m just there moving, moving, moving. But to the referee, after two big shots and then I wobble, and I’m standing there looking like that, he’s going to be like, ‘Nah.’ And he’s being safe. So when he jumped in I’m like, ‘I’m fine. Aw, f***.’ I was literally just disappointed.”
“Poatan” does not believe Adesanya was defending himself intelligently, and the referee did him a favour, which he made clear on a social media post:
“Adesanya stop making excuses saying that the referee stopped the fight early… you have to thank him for saving your life. The way you were with your head down looking at the ground, I only needed one or two more hits to connect a good knee to your face so we wouldn’t know the outcome.
As I said at that point in the video, you were a great opponent and I respect you for that.
Assume the mistakes along with your team without taking away my merits.
You will have one more chance!
You’re next!”
Israel Adesanya originally planned to pullout of the fight against Alex Pereira at UFC 281
Israel Adesanya came short in his conquest to avenge the two losses to Alex Pereira in kickboxing. At UFC 281, Adesanya dominated the majority of the fight before ‘Poatan’ rallied in the fifth round to get the finish. He defeated Adesanya for the third time, this time via TKO. Adesanya quickly protested the stoppage and has now stated that his leg was compromised going into the fight.
However, during an appearance on the Flagrant podcast alongside comedian Andrew Schulz, Adesanya claimed that he had planned to pull out of the fight due to a lingering injury. The injury circles back to Adesanya’s last title defense against Jared Cannonier at UFC 276.
Furthermore, Adesanya added that he shelved the plan bearing in mind the implications of the decision. He felt that he would be portraying the image that he was “scared” of Pereira, which has never been the case for ‘The Last Stylebender’.
With that in mind, Adesanya said:
“Breaking news I was gonna pull out of this fight early on…This time with the last fight with Cannonier, I hurt my PCL. And that’s the thing that keeps your knee from going backwards. Early in camp, it had some problems.“
He added:
I was gonna pull out early but I was like, “Nah, I wanna get this done.” Because I am a prideful man…I’ll be da**ed if people say I am a f**king, I’m scared of this guy because I’m not. I knew I wanted to fight.“
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