Israel Adesanya KOs Alex Pereira at UFC 287: What did Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg have to say?

Last night at UFC 287, Israel Adesanya set the MMA world alight by regaining the UFC middleweight title from heated rival Alex Pereira.

Despite going 0-3 in his previous bouts with Alex Pereira, including their clash at UFC 281 last year, Israel Adesanya pulled off a dramatic second-round knockout to become middleweight champion for the second time.

In the hours that have followed Adesanya’s big win, a number of notable people have reacted to his victory, both from inside the MMA world and outside.

One such person is Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who was quick to praise ‘The Last Stylebender’ on Instagram in response to a post from Adesanya.

In reply to a post that saw ‘The Last Stylebender’ claim that he’d left Pereira “Frozen like Elsa” in a clear reference to the Disney movie, Zuckerberg stated the following:

“Did it with style. So good and so happy for you!”

Mark Zuckerberg’s reply has already received over 3,500 likes on Instagram, while Adesanya’s initial post has received over one million likes. A staggering number that shows his popularity.

Zuckerberg has long been recognized as a big fan of the UFC and its athletes.

Last October, he caused controversy at UFC Fight Night: Mackenzie Dern vs. Yan Xiaonan by reportedly renting out the promotion’s APEX centre and turning it into a ‘private event’, although this was later denied by Dana White.

The Meta CEO did later thank White for his invitation, however, and was then shown on the UFC’s Instagram page enthusiastically cheering the fighters on during the event.

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How popular is Israel Adesanya on Instagram?

With a current total of 7.4 million followers, Israel Adesanya is undoubtedly one of the most popular UFC fighters on Instagram.

Unsurprisingly, many of his followers include fellow UFC fighters such as current bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling and former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman.

With his current number of followers, ‘The Last Stylebender’ is more popular on the social media app than the likes of Nate Diaz, Islam Makhachev and Jon Jones.

However, he still pales in comparison to former lightweight champions Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov. The two men are the UFC’s most popular fighters on Instagram, with over 46m and 34m followers respectively.