Israel Adesanya has been one of the UFC’s biggest superstars for a while now. Following his monumental rise to the top and dominant reign, Adesanya has received numerous accolades. As such, with his latest nomination, he could be set to win yet another one.
Recently, the UFC began unveiling the nominees for the Fan Choice Knockout of the Year. As such, Adesanya was also nominated for his knockout win over Alex Pereira at UFC 287. At the time, the knockout was one of the most electric, and it blew the roof off of the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida.
“I beat that guy one time” pic.twitter.com/4fIHpABqb1
— Justin_Ga¥thje (@ManOfSteelSA) December 8, 2023
Unfortunately, there is a feeling that the fans have seemingly turned on Adesanya since then. To make matters worse, the champ, in a now-deleted comment, wrote, “PS: I knocked the f**k outta the UFC LHW Champ…but 3-1 tho.” Naturally, ‘Poatan‘ has since become very well-liked among the fans, owing to his temperament and light heavyweight title win.
Thus, a lot of fans were against his nomination and left some demeaning remarks for ‘The Last Stylebender‘. Unfortunately, Adesanya’s comments seemed to have made things worse as fans kept piling on, hating on the nomination. As such, it would appear that following his latest loss at UFC 293, the two-time middleweight champ has lost the favor of the fans.
Alex Pereira has called out Israel Adesanya at light heavyweight
For those unaware, Israel Adesanya was one of the most entertaining fighters on the UFC roster when he arrived. Often dubbed by fans as the next ‘Anderson Silva’, Izzy actually lived up to the expectations placed on him by many. After claiming the middleweight title and numerous defenses, some even put him in the ‘GOAT’ category.
Lo and behold, a blast from the past, specifically his kickboxing days, arrived in the UFC. Alex Pereira was a mountain of a man with a stone-cold demeanor. In the past, Pereira had beaten Adesanya in kickboxing twice, with one being a brutal KO. Although the Kiwi had come a long way since then, ghosts of his past had returned to haunt him.
When the two fought for the first time, history repeated itself, and Pereira won once again. However, Izzy won back his title with the aforementioned KO at UFC 287. Since then, Pereira has moved up to light heavyweight, beating former champions Jan Blachowicz and Jiri Prochazka to claim the title. Following the win at UFC 295, Pereira called for his nemesis to settle their rivalry by saying, “Hey Adesanya, come to daddy”.
Although he initially turned the fight down, due to personal reasons, many felt that he was tempted to run it back. Notably, Izzy even teased the trilogy fight with a mock poster, before dispelling the rumors. Currently expected to be out for a long time, there were even talks of the two rivals training together. With their story far from over, it will be interesting to see how the rivalry progresses. Ultimately, fans will be hoping for a third showdown to truly seal the deal, whenever it may happen.