Bitter rivals turned finest buddies Alex Pereira and Israel Adesanya had been noticed smiling and sitting cageside throughout Saturday’s UFC 312 pay-per-view occasion in Sydney.
After preventing 4 instances throughout two completely different promotions, Pereira vs. Adesanya is taken into account by many to be one of the crucial fierce rivalries in fight sports activities historical past. However that’s all previously as the previous two-time middleweight titleholder and the reigning mild heavyweight champion had been noticed sitting collectively whereas taking in all of the motion at Qudos Financial institution Area in The Land Down Underneath.
After going 2-0 towards ‘The Final Stylebender’ below the GLORY Kickboxing banner, Pereira adopted Adesanya to the world of combined martial arts the place they might decide up proper the place they left off at UFC 281. On that evening, ‘Poatan’ shocked the world when he scored a fifth-round TKO, going three-up on the Adesanya and taking his 185-pound crown within the course of.
Adesanya finally received his revenge 5 months later, catching the Brazilian boogeyman with an overhand proper that rendered Pereira unconscious within the opening spherical of their UFC 287 rematch.
Alex Pereira and Izzy joyful to place their rivalry apart … For now
Although there was nonetheless loads of room for a trilogy combat between the 2 contained in the Octagon, each fighters opted to maneuver on from their rivalry. Adesanya caught round within the middleweight division the place he has since misplaced three in a row whereas Pereira has been stacking physique at 205, incomes KOs towards Jamahal Hill, Jiri Prochazka, and Khalil Rountree throughout his 2024 marketing campaign.
Maybe we might nonetheless see Adesanya and ‘Poatan’ full their threequel on MMA’s largest stage sometime, however for now, it seems like the previous foes are joyful to place their previous behind them.
