UFC light-heavyweight champion Alex Pereira has suggested that he and former middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya, could train together in the future despite their intense rivalry.
The Brazilian has been pressing for a fifth fight with Adesanya, and he has now attempted to persuade his old foe back into the octagon with a recent social media post.
Pereira posted a montage of his rivalry with Adesanya on Instagram, telling the former UFC middleweight champion to watch the video and not underestimate the potential of others.
The video shows the infamous clip of an old interview with Adesanya claiming Pereira was a nobody and only tried to ride off of his kickboxing knockout win for the rest of his life.
“This is not personal with Israel Adesanya, I would even train with him in the future, but Adesanya gotta watch this video so he will never underestimate someone’s potential again! P.S. Poatan – 2 division champion,” Pereira captioned the post.
According to his caption, however, Pereira said that he would welcome an opportunity to train with the Nigerian-born fighter in the future. The two have appeared cordial in the past during a run-in at an airport.
After going 2-0 against Adesanya in kickboxing, Pereira defeated ‘The Last Stylebender’ in the main event of UFC 281 to claim his first MMA championship. However, Adesanya would exact his revenge at UFC 287 with a vicious knockout.
Since their second MMA fight, Pereira moved up to light heavyweight and defeated Jan Blachowicz and Jiri Prochazka to become a two-division champion in two different sports (kickboxing and MMA).
After his title win over Prochazka, Pereira called out Adesanya to put their rivalry to rest with a third MMA fight which would provide a clear victor.
Since his last win, Adesanya has lost his championship to Sean Strickland in a huge upset, causing the 34-year-old to publicly announce he would be taking time away from the sport.
