Late last night, Alex Pereira released a video answering questions UFC fans have been wondering about the answer to. How he is doing after the KO, how he feels about the rivalry with Adesanya, what his thoughts are on Adesanya mocking his son, and much more! I really appreciate Poatan for doing this because he absolutely didn't owe us anything, and this soon after the fight. You have to respect Alex. When asked about his feelings about the fight not going how he thought Pereira responded by saying "There are no excuses you know." He also spoke about how he felt his camp and preparation was very good and he felt just as good as ever besides a minor injury to his finger. He felt "100% confident" in himself. The next question was about talk of Adesanya being the better fighter after this fight. I think Alex's answer here is as professional as it gets. "He proved he was the better fighter than me that night." Pereira also mentioned how Adesanya was winning in their last bout before he finished him, while he was winning this time and is the one who got finished.
There have been a lot of Twitter wars over Adesanya's celebration when he found Pereira's son in the audience and dead-fished him after watching his father get KO'd. Izzy did it because when Alex knocked Izzy out in kickboxing, his son (who was 5 years old) dead-fished next to Izzy at the decision. I didn't really like Izzy handing a receipt to a 12-year-old after seeing his father get viscously knocked out. I get that it was a heat-of-the-moment situation, but not my cup of tea. Would I use the word classless to describe the celebration? No, but Izzy definitely turned heel and is "the bad guy" now which is a nice new look for Izzy. Now that I got my two cents in, here is how Alex feels about the whole thing "I don't know, I wouldn't do the same. I can play with him, I've always played with him. I teased him. It was something that happened, but he, I don't know. It's another child. Because I don't know what his feeling was. I don't know, it was seven years ago, he was enduring it and I saw his joy that he had after the knockout, you know, because that was his dream, that was his dream and he made it but we're comparing him with a child who was 5-years-old at the the time, right? I don't have that mind. I can prove it because today he is 12 years old and before the fight I saw that he was being influenced by some other people, right? Sometimes even him participated in some interviews and some reporters said you're going to do this? I'm going to do it again and so on and he laughed because he's a kid. He thinks it's funny I did that, I knocked him out the night I won the belt and my kid was wanting to do the same thing up there. I said to him: No stop-don't do it. Stay here and don't do anything! I'm a conscious guy and everything I'm saying here, really I'm saying and I wouldn't do it-I wouldn't do it. If he did it, if he felt better that way. Okay it's relief, it's a relief he had and if he thinks it's better for him, okay that won't change anything for me."
My takeaway from that is Alex doesn't necessarily care, but he doesn't view the dead-fish as something a professional would do based on his "we're comparing him to a 5-year-old" line.
Alex and Izzy were also seen after the fight talking to each other about potentially meeting in Brazil and possibly training together. Alex had this to say regarding that. "I said I always said that the rivalry I have with Adesanya is on his side. I make my provocations right, but the rivalry is on his side...I was passing the interview and he stopped me and came to talk to me and talked about he wants to come to Brazil because he likes Brazilians and he likes not to train there but to visit some places, right. Sao Paulo where he had been knocked out, he mentioned that, so okay, I always spoke sincerely on my part, this is possible. he said it there, but I don't know if it's real...I'm going. Okay we meet there. If we train together or not, it's up to him." Alex doesn't like to hold grudges, he is as professional as it gets. Poatan understands that this is how fighters make their living and support their families. It's a career. Yeah, he's willing to dismantle his opponent in the cage, but outside the cage Alex is just a class act. Alex does not have rivalries in his mind.
The last question Alex answered was what we can expect from him after the loss. "Guys, I promise you, I'm going to come firm and strong, I'm going to come back stronger than ever. You can write that down!!!" I believe Poatan. Whether he returns to the Middleweight division to complete the UFC rubber match or moves to up Light Heavyweight I believe Poatan will return to form in the Octagon. Personally, I hope we get to see the trilogy. I would like to see Pereira get an immediate rematch, just because there is no clear-cut number-one contender in the Middleweight division and when you lock Adesanya and Pereira inside a cage, you know war is about to take place. That said, both fighters might be done fighting each other for now. I would love to see Pereira win the Light Heavyweight title and then see Adesanya re-test the Light Heavyweight waters and see the trilogy for the Light Heavyweight Championship. I'm on board for whatever is next for Poatan, I can't wait to see his return to the octagon!
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