It has just been a couple of days since UFC 287 and fans are still buzzing about the spectacular finishes it produced. The promotion put together a stacked card before making their return to Miami for the first time since 2003. The Miami-Dade Arena witnessed some of the most enthralling highlights and knockouts. In the main event, Israel Adesanya knocked out long-time rival Alex Pereira in a devastating fashion.
While ‘The Last Stylebender‘ did prove a point with his 2nd-round finish over Pereira, critics point out the fact that the Brazilian is still 3-1 against Israel. What is worth mentioning is that Adesanya didn’t stop after finishing his arch-rival in front of the Miami crowd. The Nigerian-born Kiwi even went on to mock Pereira using the latter’s patented bow and arrow ritual, one he uses during his walkouts.
Israel Adesanya mocks Alex Pereira’s son after KO’ing him 💀😭 pic.twitter.com/Mi6rdn556N
— XcellentMMA (@XcellentMMA) April 9, 2023
And just when fans thought this was enough, Adesanya went a step further and mocked one of Alex’s young sons right after the knockout. While some fans label this behavior as immature, others just know very well why Izzy went this route.
Almost 7 years ago, ‘Poatan’ knocked Israel out cold during their GLORY kickboxing bout. Following this, one of Pereira’s sons entered the ring and dropped himself on the canvas, mocking Adesanya’s way of defeat. Izzy being Izzy, didn’t let go of the opportunity to get back even at the young kid.
Alex Pereira responds to Israel Adesanya’s immature behavior
Despite losing in the fashion that he did, Alex Pereira has shown nothing but humility and humbleness in his defeat. The 35-year-old seemed to be in good spirits after the fight. He bumped into Israel Adesanya backstage and the duo appeared to share words of encouragement, with the former even expressing his interest in coming to Brazil.
Two days after the fight, ‘Poatan’ came out on his YouTube channel to reflect back upon the fight and its aftermath. During a particular segment, Alex touched on Izzy’s post-fight antics. He said,
“I don’t know, I wouldn’t do the same. I can play with him, I’ve always played with him. It was something that happened, but I don’t know, it’s another child. Because I don’t know what his feeling was. It was seven years ago, he was enduring it and I saw his joy after the knockout because that was his dream. He made it, but we are comparing him with a child who was five years old at the time, right?.”
“I don’t have that mind. I can prove it because today he is 12 years old. Before the fight, he was influenced by other people. Some reporters said, ‘Are you going to do this?’ [He said] ‘I’m going to do this again’ and laughed. I knocked him out the night I won the belt and my kid wanted to do the same thing,” added Pereira.
‘Poatan‘ mentioned that he’d tried stopping his son the night of the fight. He shared, “I told him ‘No, stop. Don’t do it. Stay here. I’m a conscious guy, everything I’m saying here, I wouldn’t do it. If he did it, if he felt better that way, it’s a relief he had and if he thinks it’s better for him, ok, that won’t change anything for me.”
Israel Adesanya clarified why he mocked Pereira’s son
Touching on the subject in the post-fight presser, Izzy said, “I’m petty bro, I remember, so the first time he knocked me out in Brazil, his son came into the ring and started to just lie dead next to me. And, I’m like, ‘You f***ing little a**hole, I’ll whoop you a** if your dad don’t it do for you. But then yeah, I looked at his kid and I pointed at him and I saw him and I was like, ‘hey, hey, hey, (followed by imitation of Pereira’s brutal KO).’”
Israel Adesanya did Alex Pereira and his son dirty at UFC 287. Too much or nah?#UFC287 #IsraelAdesanya #AlexPereira pic.twitter.com/a40v9ShyuO
— Efex (@isfx) April 9, 2023
Israel’s mockery attempt had the MMA community in splits. Some labeled it as petty, while others found it a brilliant way to attract more eyeballs. Whether or not these two meet again for a third Octagon outing, only time will tell.