Alex Pereira says Israel Adesanya was crying after he was knocked out by Alex

The newly signed UFC middleweight prospect Alex Pereira has revealed that after he knocked out Israel Adesanya in their rematch, Israel was seen crying after the fight. Alex Pereira is a Brazilian kickboxer legend who was recently signed by the UFC. Alex is the former GLORY Middleweight and Light Heavyweight champion and has also competed in promotions such as Kunlun Fight, SUPERKOMBAT Fighting Championship and It’s Showtime. His first MMA bout was against Quemuel Ottoni at Jungle Fight in 2015. In September 2021, Alex Pereira signed with the UFC and was booked to make his promotional debut against Andreas Michailidis at UFC 268. He won the fight via TKO early in round two after knocking Michailidis down with a flying knee.

During his remarkable winning streak in the kickboxing circuit, he faced the current UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya. The duo faced each other on two different occasions and both the fights were won by Alex. He won one fight via decision and another via vicious knockout.

In his recent interview, he opened up on those two fights with Israel Adesanya. Alex Pereira stated that after he defeated Israel Adesanya by knockout in 2017, Adesanya was seen crying and was very upset by that loss.

“I don’t know if it is just with his friends, right? With the people close to him, (where) he’s that arrogant guy, that annoying guy. Because every time I met the guy, it was all that arrogance, that ego, he was always like that.” Pereira said in an interview with Marcelo Alonso of the PVT channel (Portal Vale Tudo). “Since our first fight in China, he was a guy who pissed me off a lot, from the weigh-in to the fight. Even losing, when there was the rematch here in Brazil he made a post that I don’t really remember, but it was something like ‘I’ll have to beat Pereira in his backyard and then run out of the favela’. It was something like that, right?’ [via translation]”

Alex Pereira continued (h/t SportsKeeda):

“I only saw him at the weigh-in and the fight. After the fight I saw him crying outside in Ibirapuera. Sitting on a low wall with his trainer – that’s it.”

Alex Pereira is now scheduled to face Bruno Silva on March 12, 2022, at UFC Fight Night 203. The UFC Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya is scheduled to fight the former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker at UFC 271.