Israel Adesanya reveals he was going to pull out of Alex Pereira fight 'early on' due to injury from previous fight

Modified Nov 14, 2022 21:10 GMT

Israel Adesanya reveals he was going to pull out of Alex Pereira fight. [Image credits: Getty Images]

Former UFC middleweight Israel Adesanya recently revealed that he was going to pull out of his fight against Alex Pereira at UFC 281.

Israel Adesanya took on Pereira at the main event of UFC 281 with his middleweight title on the line. Fans were left shocked as 'The Last Stylebender' lost his belt to the Brazilian via TKO during the fifth round of the match.

In a recent interview with FLAGRANT, Adesanya revealed that he was on the verge of pulling out of his fight against 'Poatan.' The reason pertains to a PCL injury suffered at UFC 276 against Jared Cannonier.

However, the former middleweight champion admitted that he held back from withdrawing from the fight. He didn't want his fans to think he was "scared" about facing off against Pereira. Discussing the matter, 'The Last Stylebender' said:

"Breaking news I was gonna pull out of this fight early on...This time with the last fight with Cannonier, I hurt my PCL. And that's the thing that keeps your knee from going backwards. Early in camp, it had some problems. So, there was a bit...how many weeks, maybe like three weeks I just did boxing...Eventually, towards the end of camp or towards like halfway, I was taking leg kicks from Carlos checking them."

He further added, saying:

"So, I was gonna pull out early but I was like, "Nah, I wanna get this done." Because I am a prideful man...I'll be da**ed if people say I am a f**king, I'm scared of this guy because I'm not. I knew I wanted to fight. I knew I wanted to fight [and] also make a point to fight three times this year."

You can check out Adesanya's full interview with FLAGRANT below:

Kenny Florian points out how Israel Adesanya could have successfully avoided the TKO loss against Alex Pereira

In a recent edition of his Anik & Florian podcast, UFC analyst Kenny Florian discussed the recently concluded UFC middleweight title bout between Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira.

In his opinion, 'The Last Stylebender' could have easily defended his title against 'Poatan.' He added that he should have stopped Pereira's lethal signature left hook by consistently slapping away the Brazilian's left hand. Putting forth his analysis, Florian said:

"Why did he [Israel Adesanya] have his back up against the cage? I think those lead left kicks really did a lot of damage...If you're gonna try to survive up against the cage, as I would have liked to see... is to take away that lead hand. I would have liked to see, like a tentacle, that lead hand is trying to slap away the lead of Pereira. Why? That's his most dangerous weapon. That left hook was cultivated and created by Satan himself."

Check out Kenny Florian's analysis of the recently concluded middleweight title bout below: