Alex Pereira's coach makes astounding revelation about Israel Adesanya rematch, explains why 'Poatan' was "happy" with the loss

Alex Pereira's coach has made an astounding revelation about the Israel Adesanya rematch at UFC 287 and revealed why the current light heavyweight champion was happy despite losing the bout.

Adesanya and 'Poatan' have locked horns many times in the past across promotions. The first time the two combatants squared off at Glory of Heroes 1, which the Brazilian won via unanimous decision. 'Poatan' and 'The Last Stylebender' then locked horns at Glory of Heroes 7, with Pereira emerging victorious again.

The two mixed martial artists faced each other inside the octagon at UFC 281 at middleweight. 'Poatan' kept his winning ways strong again and won the five-rounder via technical knockout. At UFC 287, the two met in a rematch and this time, the Nigerian-New Zealander defeated and dethroned the Brazilian.

After this loss, instead of setting up a rematch, Pereira moved up a weight class and has fought in the light heavyweight division since then and is now the champion.

'Poatan's' coach Plinio Cruz, who appeared on the JAXXON PODCAST, revealed that when his pupil weighed for UFC 287, he promised Cruz and Glover Teixeira that no matter the result, it would be the last time he fought at 185 pounds.

Cruz said:

"When he [Alex Pereira] made weight for that fight, he looked at me and Glover he say, 'Real talk, win lose or draw, this is the last time that I make this weight class. I’m going up.' But he say, 'Like everything happened for a reason. Maybe if it didn’t happen there, things would have gone different.' But the way that everything plays out, he is happy with it."

Check out Plinio Cruz's comments about Alex Pereira (14:25):

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When Alex Pereira revealed his plans to move to light heavyweight

After losing his strap to Israel Adesanya at UFC 287, former UFC middleweight champion Alex Periera took a short break from the octagon and then made the decision to move up a weight class.

In a video on his YouTube channel 'Poatan' said:

"My next fight will be at 205! Yeah, you heard right. I think I did my work and now I'm feeling good to go up to 205."

Check out Alex Pereira's comments below (0:20):

'Poatan' cemented his status in the light heavyweight division by first defeating Jan Blachowicz and then beating Jiří Procházka for the vacant belt at UFC 295. In 2025, Pereira has a new challenge as he defends his strap against top contender Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 313.