Alex Pereira became a superstar when he beat Israel Adesanya in MMA.
The two men were long-time kickboxing rivals before Adesanya changed sports and became one of the UFC’s most dominant middleweight champions of all time.
Pereira and Adesanya reignited their rivalry in the UFCGetty
Pereira beat ‘The Last Stylebender’ twice under kickboxing rules.
Most notably, ‘Poatan’ knocked Adesanya out so badly that the MMA legend needed oxygen at the end of their rematch in 2017.
The Brazilian KO artist decided to follow his rival to a new sport in 2020.
After just seven MMA fights, which included three wins in the UFC, Pereira was given a shot at Adesanya when he brutally knocked out Sean Strickland.
In November 2022, Pereira was wobbled by his nemesis in the first round of their UFC 281 main event Madison Square Garden – but he recovered and was competitive throughout the fight.
However, Adesanya was up on the scorecards heading into the last round.
Pereira took the fight out of the judges’ hands with a ferocious combination.
Adesanya got trapped against the cage before getting rocked by two big punches.
The Nigeria-born New Zealander tried to circle away from his opponent but ended up running onto a massive left hook that signalled the beginning of the end.
Pereira landed an incredible 16 unanswered punches on his stricken foe who was wobbling all over the place and even hit the floor before popping back to his feet.
Pereira trapped his rival against the fence and let his hands flyGetty
‘Poatan’ added the UFC belt to his trophy cabinet@alexpoatanpereira – instagram
Eventually, veteran referee Marc Goddard stepped in and waved off the fight.
Adesanya protested the stoppage during his post-fight press conference, but the majority of people watching at home thought he was out on his feet.
Still, Goddard opted against refereeing his MMA rematch with Pereira.
In April 2023, Adesanya got a long overdue win over Pereira at UFC 287.
The 37-year-old got caught rushing in and suffered a second-round KO loss, which ended with Adesanya stealing his celebration before mocking Pereira’s crying son.
Since then, Adesanya has suffered defeats to Strickland and Dricus du Plessis.
Pereira has moved up to light heavyweight and became a two-weight champion with wins over former titleholders Jan Blachowicz, Jiri Prochazka and Jamahal Hill.
Adesanya won the rematch by KOGetty
Pereira is now thriving at light-heavyweightGetty
Khalil Rountree Jr. will try to dethrone the 205lb king at UFC 307 on Saturday night – but the man himself is already looking ahead to another run in Adesanya’s weight class.
Du Plessis received a call out from Pereira after he beat Adesanya in August.
It seems almost certain that Pereira and Adesanya meet again in the UFC Octagon.
Only time will tell if it will be for the light heavyweight or middleweight title.
