Alex Pereira Questions Adesanya’s Loss, Suggests Possible Injury

Alex Pereira has questioned Israel Adesanya’s loss to Dricus du Plessis, questioning whether Izzy was injured, even though the StyleBender acknowledged those claims. 

Du Plessis submitted Adesanya in the fourth round to retain his UFC Middleweight Title in an upset win. Du Plessis rocked Adesanya with numerous right hands to get Adesanya on the ground and make him tap. It came out of the blue just as Adesanya had a strong third round. Pereira analyzed the fight, stating he noticed a lack of low-leg kicks coming from Adesanya. Since that is one of Izzy’s strengths, Pereira looked back at that moment and wondered if there was an injury. 

Pereira On Adesanya

“Maybe Adesanya had an injury, I don’t know. You could see he kicked very little…That inside leg kick of Adesanya is very good…..he didn’t continue to do it..he is only throwing hands,” Pereira said 

Adesanya appeared to hint that those comments may have been true, as he credited Pereira’s insight.

Nevertheless, Adesanya made no excuses for his loss. He credited Du Plessis for being the better fighter as he outlined the South African’s ability to come forward. He also highlighted his mishaps, saying he got careless, ultimately costing him the fight. While Adesanya has no immediate eyes on a rematch, he shut down suggestions that he would retire.

That leaves question marks over where he goes next. Robert Whittaker and Khamzat Chimaev face off at UFC 308 on October 26. The winner is seen as next in line to get a title shot. Meanwhile, Dana White stated that the winner of Du Plessis-Adesanya would fight Sean Strickland next. Strickland lost a controversial split decision to Du Plessis at UFC 297. White felt Strickland had done enough to win, setting the narrative for the rematch.

Adesanya’s Future

At the same time, Pereira also indicated his desire to fight Du Plessis at middleweight to recapture the title he lost to Izzy at UFC 287. Du Plessis has indicated a desire to fight Pereira at light heavyweight, leaving Adesanya in the cold. This was the first time that Adesanya had lost two times in a row.

They were against Strickland and Du Plessis, whom he was expected to beat. Daniel Cormier felt Adesanya would find it tough moving forward since the middleweight division is stacked with talent. That leaves Adesanya with a choice to either retire or fight other opposition in the hope of getting another title shot. 

“He looked like he was going to retire because he took his gloves off, but then he said, ‘I ain’t going nowhere, I’m staying here. That’s a tricky thing for Adesanya, because now he’s got to go and fight fights that would seem to mean less than anything he has done for a really, really long time. You know he had fought 12 straight title fights. He has now lost two title fights in a row – one to Strickland, one to Du Plessis. How long will it take him to earn his way back to another championship opportunity? This weight class is on fire, though,” Cormier stated 

Comments

Find all the latest boxing news and MMA breaking updates on boxingnews.com.