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Alex Pereira believes he has Israel Adesanya and his entire team "mentally shook" ahead of their highly awaited title fight at UFC 281.
On Saturday night, Madison Square Garden will host the UFC 281 card, where Adesanya will put his middleweight title on the line against the only man who has beaten him twice in kickboxing.
Ahead of their fight, the Brazilian said this about the Kiwi on the recent episode of the MMA Fighting podcast Trocação Franca:
“He and his whole team said it was a bit unfair that I was fighting for the belt because I just got here... That Adesanya did so many fights, and I should do the same. Man, I’m just hearing that and taking it as something positive for me."
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'Poatan' added:
"That shows me he pretended he wanted [to fight me] and when I got here, his whole team was against it. That shows all of them, he and his team are mentally shook.”
Alex Pereira has defeated Israel Adesanya in the kickboxing ring twice, knocking him out the last time they fought. 'Poatan' believes he holds a competitive edge over the middleweight champion for this very reason.
In his last fight at UFC 276, Pereira KO'd Sean Strickland, who was on a six-fight winning streak:
Alex Pereira poses with Frozen character Elsa at Times Square to troll Israel Adesanya
At the UFC 276 press conference, a reporter asked Adesanya what would happen if he fought the Brazilian again in the UFC, to which 'The Last Stylebender' replied:
"And this time when I put you on skates, Imma leave you frozen like Elsa."
In response to his comments, the former two-division Glory kickboxing champion posed for a picture alongside a woman wearing an Elsa costume at Madison Square Garden. The Brazilian has been constantly trolling the Kiwi for his training methods. He previously released a video where he mocked the champion's training method of using tennis balls.
Going by the comments on the post, fans were happy to see the humorous side of one of the most feared strikers in MMA.
Take a look at the video:
