Israel Adesanya Still Believes He Beat Alex Pereira in First Kickboxing Fight

By: Shreya Jha  Image Credit: UFC

UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya opens up about his previous encounters with Alex Pereira ahead of UFC 281.

Adesanya and Pereira's rivalry started even before they were part of UFC. Both have met  twice in kickboxing with Alex Pereira coming better than Adesanya on both occasions.

Their first fight was in 2016 in Shenzhen, China. Speaking about that first fight, Israel Adesanya still claims that he defeated Pereira. He firmly believes that judging was very poor.

"I thought like I handily won...he thought he lost that fight. But then when his hand got raised, he was surprised and I was surprised", said Adesanya in the UFC 281 countdown.

Adesanya and Pereira met again a year later in Brazil. This time Peraria knocked down Adesanya in the third round.

Both the fighters will meet again for the middleweight championship bout at the UFC 281 in Madison Square Garden, NY on November 11th.

Current champion Israel Adesanya is unbeaten in the division and has successfully defended his title five times.

The co-main event of the UFC 281 is also a title fight for the women's straweight divison between champion Carla Esparza and Weili Zhang

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