"I hope he never loses" - Israel Adesanya reflects on Alex Pereira rivalry and the Brazilian's UFC success 

Israel Adesanya recently reflected on the iconic rivalry he shared with Alex Pereira and gave the Brazilian his flowers for finding immense success in the sport.

Adesanya and Pereira have quite a history. They have faced each other twice as kickboxers and twice as MMA fighters. Across combat sports, Pereira is 3-1 up on Adesanya.

In MMA, the Brazilian beat Adesanya via a stunning fifth-round knockout at UFC 281 in November 2022 to win the middleweight championship, only for 'The Last Stylebender' to redeem his loss with a second-round KO in their rubber match at UFC 287 in April 2023. Pereira later moved up to light heavyweight and has dominated the 205-pound division as champion since then.

During a recent Q&A session at Bangtao Muay Thai & MMA in Thailand, Adesanya looked back on his legendary rivalry with Pereira and said:

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"For me, it was never really about him [Pereira], it was always about me. I knew technically I was the only one to hurt this man multiple times. I knew I could always touch him. I’m so proud of what he’s doing now, two-time light heavyweight champ, he’s back on top, about to fight Jon Jones at the White House. I hope he never loses. I hope he retires undefeated."

He added:

"It’s not about other people, it was about me, because after he beat me at MSG, people were like, 'Oh, he’ll never fight him again,' but I was like, 'Dana, run that sh*t back. I need that.' I always knew I could do it."

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Israel Adesanya opens up about future career plans and fighting motivations

During the same Q&A session, Israel Adesanya also spoke about his fighting plans going forward and clarified that he wasn't motivated by the idea of being a UFC champion anymore.

Addressing speculations about his retirement and future outings in the octagon, Adesanya said (via @RedCorner_MMA on X):

"Whenever I'm out and about in Auckland, every day I always get the, 'Oh, are you retired? At first, I used to have to explain myself like, 'Nah, I'm just taking a break and doing other things.' But now I just go, 'Yeah, I'm retired.' Until they see me on a poster."

He added:

"For me, it's not about belts anymore. I got two shiny belts at home. They look good. I just want to fight. I just want to do things as I did on the way to the belt. I still fought really well when I was defending the belt, but I want to fight more freely. I want to try some risky sh*t like I used to."

Edited by Nishant Zende.