‘He’d Never Give Me Props’- Alex Pereira Slams Israel Adesanya for Not Recognizing Him at UFC 276
Alex Pereira spoke to MMA Fighting and didn’t hold back on sharing exactly how he felt about Israel Adesanya’s UFC 276 performance. ‘The Last Stylebender’ was heavily criticized for not pushing the pace and fans bashed him for ‘coasting’ in the five-round contest against Jared Cannonier.
Pereira talked about how fans were leaving the T-Mobile Arena well before the final horn sounded off and the overall buzz around the contest was extremely negative. ‘Poatan’ claimed that the fans didn’t get their money’s worth and were instead placed in a compromising position as the fight didn’t exactly deliver on high-octane action.
“I was there [cageside] and saw the fight, and I say it didn’t impress me,” Pereira said on this week’s episode of MMA Fighting podcast Trocação Franca. “It didn’t excite me nor the fans. There’s video of lines of people leaving the arena after the fourth round.”
“People pay expensive tickets and they want to stay until the last minute to see who’s the champion and see him getting his hands raised. For people to act like that it’s because it wasn’t exciting.” [h/t mmafighting.com]
Alex Pereira was also bitter about the fact that Israel Adesanya didn’t give him props for his highlight-reel knockout of Sean Strickland. With the win, Pereira cemented himself as the next man in line to face ‘The Last Stylebender’ for his undisputed title.
“Of course, he’d never give me props, but what he thinks or doesn’t think doesn’t change a thing to me,” Pereira said. “You have to ask him if he was impressed when I knocked him out. Was he not 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.”
Pereira clearly wants to make a statement against Izzy and is keen to go 3-0 against him in combat sports. It remains to be seen if Adesanya is more aggressive in the contest as he’s going toe-to-toe with the only man to ever best him in the striking realm.
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