Yahoo Sports UFC 287: Israel Adesanya's post-fight celebrations come full circle for cold revenge
Some questioned Israel Adesanya's quick turnaround to face Alex Pereira again — an opponent who had knocked him out twice. After regaining the middleweight title with a knockout over Pereira in the main event of UFC 287 on Saturday night, Adesanya celebrated by calling back to the past for some personal revenge.
The first full-circle celebration was directed at Pereira. "Poatan" is well-known for his archery skills and shot some make-believe arrows during his walkout for his second UFC matchup with Adesanya. After Adesanya's KO victory, he passionately shot some back while Pereira was out cold.
Adesanya admitted his next dig was a little more "petty." He walked over to another side of the cage, pointed to ensure Pereira's son could see him and proceeded to mock the former middleweight champion's defeat as he threw himself onto the mat and pretended to be out cold.
Wow izzy. Doesn’t forget he got his revenge on his son pic.twitter.com/mX23VsiQlZ
— Belal Muhammad (@bullyb170) April 9, 2023
During the post-fight news conference, he explained that he was simply finishing a battle that Pereira's son started when he flopped in the cage while Pereira celebrated his knockout of Adesanya in March 2017.
“I remember. The first time he knocked me out in Brazil, his son came into the ring and then just started to lie dead next to me," he said. "I’m like, ‘You f***ing little a******, I’ll whoop your a** if your dad don’t do it for you.’ I looked for his kid, I pointed at him, and I saw him and I was like, ‘Hey, hey, hey,’ just to remind him."
When a reporter reminded Adesanya that Pereira’s son might eventually seek to avenge his father, a trope featured often in martial arts cinema and anime, Adesanya joked that he'll be ready.
“If you can crawl, we can brawl,” he said with a laugh.
“…and I took that personally.” - Michael Jordan. https://t.co/jKwUlk1Fib
— Israel Adesanya (@stylebender) April 9, 2023
Apparently leaving it all in the the cage, Adesanya and Pereira's post-fight conversation was filled with respect.
“I saw [Pereira] backstage. We’re cool. He’s a great champion, he’s a warrior. His story, I mean that, I’m the antagonist of his story," he said. "He’s a f***ing beast, coming from where he’s come from. The adversities he’s been through in his life to get to where he’s gotten now and taking me out the way he has, it’s a f***ing beautiful story for him. But like I said, tonight it’s not about his story, it’s about my story, which is history.”
Adesanya, aka "Stylebender" (24-2 MMA, 13-2 UFC) was pretty firm that he and Pereira (7-2 MMA, 4-1 UFC) won't meet again for a trilogy bout after their rematch Saturday.
“I don’t keep score. I settle it, and now it’s settled,” Adesanya said after his UFC 287 win. “I gave him a fast track to the belt. I could’ve said, ‘Naw, who’s he fought? He only fought one top five.’ But no. He did well. He fought some top guys. He beat [Sean] Strickland, and I was like, ‘Well, fine, There’s no one else.’"
From Adesanya's perspective, it's more likely that Pereira will move up in weight class to fight closer to his natural weight.
“I was looking for that challenge. He beat me in kickboxing and I got the immediate rematch because of what I’ve done in the game," he added. "I did the hard yard and I earned my f***ing rematch. Now he has to do the hard yard and earn it, but I don’t think he’s going to. Go cause problems at 205. He’s a motherf***er to deal with, I’ll tell you that.”
