Here is the chilling footage of Alex Pereira’s corner staring down Israel Adesanya ahead of their clash at UFC 281
Alex Pereira’s cornermen were in no mood to play any games at UFC 281. They meant business and did everything in their capacity ahead of the fight to get inside Israel Adesanya’s head. Fresh footage has now emerged of his teammates performing explicit gestures and staring Adesanya down during the pre-fight customary introductions by Bruce Buffer.
The hyped-up cornermen led by former UFC light heavyweight champion Glover Teixeira were visibly fired up and tried to outstare ‘The Last Stylebender’ standing across the octagon. Pereira on the flipside had ice in his veins and eyes locked on to the target before the referee started the fight.
Watch the video below:
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.
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.“
Israel Adesanya reacts to UFC 281 stoppage against Alex Pereira
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.
At UFC 281, Pereira defeated Adesanya for the middleweight championship after Pereira staged an incredible comeback in the fifth round to win by standing TKO. Adesanya immediately objected to the early stoppage, claiming that he was not in immediate danger. “The Last Stylebender” then discussed the fight’s conclusion with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, explaining his viewpoint 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 perineal [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.”
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