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Former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya recently spoke about his former rival, current UFC light-heavyweight champion Alex Pereira. 'The Last Stylebender' and 'Poatan' have had a storied rivalry that spanned two sports - kickboxing and MMA - in which they exchanged gold and KOs.
In a recent podcast episode featuring fellow former UFC middleweight champ and former opponent Robert Whittaker, Adesanya opened up about Pereira's calf kicks. The Brazilian world champion's devastating low kick has become the stuff of legend.
Adesanya said:
"His feet. You know my dad told me, like, 'You look at his bunion on the side of his foot. It's like a hammer.' That's what he uses to dig into people's calves. So, he's kicking you with this bit [points to part of his foot]."
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Whittaker asked him if the calf kick hurt, and Adesanya replied with:
"Oh yeah. Definitely. Oh yeah [laughs]. And you at his hips. His hips are all the way up here [points to area above his own hips]. We've all learned how to like, you know, throw the calf kick for certain people but his ones are different."
Listen to Israel Adesanya's comments here (15:27):
Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker give their predictions for UFC 311's main and co-main event
In the podcast episode, the former opponents provided their picks for the main card fights at UFC 311 this weekend. The blockbuster card is the UFC's opening PPV of 2025, which is headlined by two world title fights.
In the co-main event, a bantamweight title fight between champion Merab Dvalishvili and Umar Nurmagomedov, Adesanya made his pick:
"I like Merab [Dvalishvili] because, when he's champion, it's good for the division because he brings a lot of attention to the lighter weights. Because he's fun on social media, he's funny on the mic, he's funny with his antics."
Robert Whittaker agreed with Israel Adesanya's pick. They also laughably agreed that Dvalishvili would win via a solid five-round decision.
As for the main event, a rematch between lightweight champion Islam Makhachev and Arman Tsarukyan, both men sided with the champ. 'The Last Stylebender' also predicted the method of victory:
"Like Round 5, I'm gonna go Round 5, late submission."
Listen to the two here:
