"Never underestimate someone"- Alex Pereira reignites Israel Adesanya feud with a backhanded compliment

Alex Pereira has been pressing for a fifth fight with Israel Adesanya, and the UFC's light heavyweight champion attempted to coax his old foe back into the octagon with a recent social media post.

Seemingly unprompted, Pereira posted a montage of his rivalry with Adesanya on Instagram, telling the former UFC middleweight champion to "watch the video" so that he will "never underestimate someone's potential again." The video shows the infamous clip of an old interview with Adesanya claiming Pereira was a 'nobody' and only tried to ride off of his kickboxing knockout win for the rest of his life.

Alex Pereira captioned the post:

"This is not personal with Israel Adesanya, I would even train with him in the future, but Adesanya gotta watch this video so he will never underestimate someone's potential again! P.S. Poatan - 2 division champion"

According to his caption, however, Pereira did say that he would welcome an opportunity to train with Israel Adesanya in the future. The two have appeared cordial in the past during a run-in at an airport.

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Alex Pereira and Israel Adesanya's history

Despite Alex Pereira being up 3-1 against Israel Adesanya, a fifth fight would appear to be in the future for both men.

After going 2-0 against Adesanya in kickboxing, Pereira defeated 'The Last Stylebender' in the main event of UFC 281 to claim his first MMA championship. However, Adesanya would exact his revenge at UFC 287 with a vicious knockout.

Since their second MMA fight, Pereira moved up to light heavyweight and defeated Jan Blachowicz and Jiri Prochazka to become a two-division champion in two different sports. After his title win over Prochazka, Pereira called out Adesanya to put their rivalry to rest.

If another edition of Alex Pereira vs. Israel Adesanya does come to fruition, it would likely not be next for the light heavyweight champion. Since his last win, Adesanya has lost his championship to Sean Strickland in a huge upset, causing the Nigerian-born Kiwi to publicly announce he would be taking time away from the sport.