When Israel Adesanya expressed desire to fight Alex Pereira if 'Poatan' won UFC light heavyweight title: "I'll do it again"

Israel Adesanya seems like he would entertain an MMA rubber match with Alex Pereira someday. In this MMA throwback, we go back to June of last year when Adesanya was the reigning UFC middleweight champion. He was on the heels of becoming a two-time titleholder at 185 pounds that April when he stopped Pereira via strikes in the second round of their main event at UFC 287.

'The Last Stylebender' was speaking with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour and said a Pereira trilogy could possibly happen if 'Poatan' wins a 205-pound strap. This took place before the Brazilian knockout artist made his UFC debut in this division.

When asked about a third showdown inside of the octagon with his longtime kickboxing rival, Adesanya said:

"If he wins the belt at 205, I'll do it again. But if not, I think he's done with it. I'm done with it. It's like everyone else wants to see it but it's like eh, we've moved on. That's life."

Check out this flashback of Israel Adesanya discussing an Alex Pereira MMA tiebreaker below (1:49:29):

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Israel Adesanya, Alex Pereira, and their roads since this interview

Israel Adesanya would go on to lose his hold on the gold just a few months later after this chat with Helwani. He lost to Sean Strickland by way of a unanimous decision in the pay-per-view headliner of UFC 293 last September.

The 35-year-old will get a chance to enter rarefied air and become the first-ever three-time UFC middleweight champion next week. Adesanya will take on the promotion's reigning king Dricus du Plessis at UFC 305 on Aug. 17.

As for Pereira, he would go on to defeat a former UFC light heavyweight champion in his divisional debut a few weeks after this Adesanya interview took place. 'Poatan' would defeat Jan Blachowicz by way of a split decision at UFC 291 in July and would then become the king of the division that November.

To do that, he would finish former 205-pound champion, Jiri Prochazka at UFC 295 to become the only man to capture middleweight and light heavyweight gold in the company's history.

Pereira has since defended his light heavyweight belt two times by finishing former 205-pound kingpin Jamahal Hill and Jiri Prochazka in a rematch. These bouts transpired at UFC 300 and UFC 303, respectively, with the Brazilian knockout artist earning those wins in April and June of this year.