After defeating Jared Cannonier at UFC 276 at the T-mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday morning, undisputed UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya called out his upcoming opponent, Alex Pereira.
Sean Strickland was viciously knocked out by Pereira prior to Adesanya’s triumph, sparking talk of a future rematch with the Nigerian fighter.
According to The reports, Pereira defeated Adesanya by unanimous decision in 2016 to snap his 12-fight winning streak and force a rematch.
The second time around, “The Last Stylebender” Adesanya lost and later needed oxygen to restore consciousness.
Adesanya, however, claimed that his defeat to Pereira was the result of “a mistake on my part owing to my spamming right hand and that was in kickboxing.”
The UFC middleweight champion said this after Sunday morning fight.
“Look, we know who is next. The first time I told you [Pereira] it was an error on my part due to my spamming right hand and that was in kickboxing. It is easy to knockout that homeboy [Sean Strickland] because he was parrying the jabs, but like I said at the press conference, next time I put you on skates, you will get frozen like Elsa,” Adesanya said.
Adesanya also commended his opponent’s game plan.
“One thing I was looking forward to was facing Jared as an opponent, but the second thing I was looking forward to was John Crouch versus Eugene Bareman. Two great coaches, two great teams.
“I will tell you one thing they had an excellent game plan. It was really hard for me to get my follow-ups going, my second phases going because they had a good game plan, and Jared had the fortitude in his mind.” Adesanya added in the ring.
