After Alex Pereira was taken down by Israel Adesanya at UFC 287, the victor wanted to make sure he sealed things with a signature moment. However, in the eyes of one MMA critic, he may have gone a little too far.
As Izzy was celebrating his UFC Middleweight title victory he spotted Periera’s son watching the events unfold. That’s when he provided the young man with a bit of a callback, and he was more than happy to acknowledge why he did it.
After locating Periera’s son in the crowd Adesanya then pretended to fall down as if he were knocked out. It was in response to actions by the younger Periera after Periera knocked Adesanya out in a past kickboxing match. Following the fight the youth smacks himself in the head and then falls down in the ring next to him.
So in the re-match, Adesanya made sure to get a measure of revenge on multiple levels. He located Pereira’s son in the crowd, made sure to point him out, and then pretended to get knocked out.
Wow izzy. Doesn’t forget he got his revenge on his son pic.twitter.com/mX23VsiQlZ
— Belal Muhammad (@bullyb170) April 9, 2023
“I’m petty, bro,” Adesanya said following the fight. “I remember the first time (Pereira) knocked me out in Brazil, and his son came into the ring and then started to lie dead next to me, and I’m like, ‘you f–king little asshole. I’ll whoop your ass if your dad don’t do it for you.’
“But then, yeah, I looked for his kid, and I pointed at him, and I saw him, and I was like, ‘hey, hey, hey’, just to remind him.”
One person that didn’t sit too well with was fellow UFC fighter Henry Cejudo. He says that Periera shouldn’t let what Israel Adesayna did stand. The former Flyweight and Bantamweight Champion believes that after his loss and the events following the bout, Periera should be screaming to the heavens for a third fight with Izzy.
“Open your mouth and ask for a damn rematch,” Cejudo said on his YouTube channel. “I don’t get where Alex never said anything about him fighting Israel once again. This is what really somewhat pisses me off: You have three wins over this guy (two in the world of kickboxing).”
“This guy gets one win over you. Now he has the right to close the chapter? No, no, because you’ve only fought in MMA two times and you guys are 1-1. You have to go to (UFC president Dana White), knock on his door and be like: ‘You know what, Uncle Dana? Be fair with me like you were with everybody else. Pretend I’m Conor (McGregor) for a damn minute.’”
Cejudo continued to make a case for a trilogy. “Alex, if you don’t fight for this rematch, you are going to regret it. Especially after seeing Israel mocking your son and doing what he did.”
“Bro, I’m kind of pissed off for you. You’ve knocked him out two of the four times you have fought. OK, he did get you. This is something Israel did say: He who laughs last, laughs louder. You don’t want to do that. The person who really put a stamp on it because you guys have fought two times in MMA, make it a trilogy but you have to do your job to actually sell the fight.”
Specifically addressing the mocking of his son, Cejudo said, “When you bring family and when you bring your boy in there and again, man, the kid was probably four or five years old when he did that little thing, plus kids can’t help themselves.”
He would later declare, “If there’s fuel to the fire that needs to added right now, Alex Pereira, it’s you going and you fight for that strap once again. Is you knocking on that door, being vocal, and saying, ‘Hey Israel, now, it’s extremely personal.'”
White has not announced yet who Israel Adesanya (24-2 MMA) will face next, but he’s expected to be back in The Octagon soon.
“This guy was already blowing Hunter and the boys up: ‘When’s my next fight? I want to fight again’,” White said recently as noted by BJPenn.com. “Israel Adesanya wants to fight nonstop, constantly and wants to fight everybody. We’re working on that, and he’ll fight again soon, probably by the end of summer.”
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