Alex Pereira is happy to train Israel Adesanya despite their long-standing rivalry.
The feud between ‘Poatan’ and ‘The Last Stylebender’ stretches far beyond their time inside the Octagon. Pereira won the first encounter under the GLORY Kickboxing flag, and then went on to win back-to-back victories over the two time middleweight champion. The brutal third-round knockout came at Glory of Heroes 15 (March 2017).
Adesanya quickly moved onto MMA. He earned a couple first-round finishes before making his UFC debut in 2018. Pereria would follow in his former foes’ footsteps, making his first Octagon appearance three years later.
Under the UFC banner, Pereira and Adesanya engaged in a memorable rivalry, splitting highlight-reel knockouts in their two meetings, though it was the ‘Stylebender’ who had the last laugh.
Pereira is now the light heavyweight champion and Adesanya has his sights set on a fight against Dricus DuPlessis, who is currently reigning as middleweight king. It appears that their historic series may be over. Speaking with Ariel Helwani on Wednesday’s episode of The MMA Hour, ‘Poatan’ looked back on his time competing with Adesanya and even opened the door to the two fighters potentially work with…
