Having fought four times across two combat sports, Alex Pereira and Israel Adesanya have one of the most interesting rivalries ever. But despite their history, which has “Poatan” up 3-1 over “The Last Stylebender,” Adesanya still wants to see Pereira beat Ciryl Gane at the UFC White House event on Sunday, June 14th.
In a new video uploaded to his YouTube channel labeled simply ‘I want Alex to WIN,’ Adesanya broke down the White House card and spent a lot of time on the interim heavyweight title co-main event. A lot of respect has grown between Pereira and Adesanya since their two fights in the UFC octagon, and it’s apparent here.
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“This is what the division needed,” Adesanya said. “Jones is in or out, we don’t know. Aspinall is still recovering from the last fight with Gane. So now they needed something fresh.”
“A guy like Alex, who’s coming to the UFC smoking dudes to fight me, and then beat me? And then from there becoming the light heavyweight champion? And then now [heavyweight champion?] Never been done before, never been even attempted. This is rare air. This is a level where you have to really just appreciate what this guy has done, from kickboxing, from his background, his ties, to his roots.”
“Whether you love him or hate him, just you have to really appreciate the the magnitude of where this guy is taking it to now,” Adesanya concluded. “This is crazy.”
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“Even if he was fighting Godzilla, I wanna see Alex do it,” Izzy said later. “I honestly think it’s gonna be good for the sport. It’s gonna be great for him to achieve something that’s never been even attempted. It’s like seeing the first person climb Everest, or a four minute mile. You know? F–k. I just wanna see him do it.”
“People can think whatever they want, but I know there’s people who don’t understand what it’s like to root for someone you’ve competed against. It’s not about me. This is bigger than me. This is history. To see someone achieve this and then you played a part in helping them get there? It’s f–king cool, man. So official pick, I’m going Chama by Chama.”
“I wanna see him do it,” Adesanya said. “And it’s not a tomato can at all. [Ciryl] is a new age heavyweight: A guy with the footwork who can grapple, strike, [has] power, speed, head movement. It’s a hard fight. It’s a f–king hard fight at heavyweight. First time at heavyweight in MMA. So it’s not gonna be easy. But like I said, I want Alex to get it done. I really believe he’s gonna get it done. It’s just destiny. This is this is bigger than anything.”
