Alex Pereira recently posted a video of himself on Instagram, hilariously taking a dig at Israel Adesanya.
In the video, Pereira poses with a costumed character dressed as Elsa from the Disney animated movie Frozen. The Brazilian can be seen posing in a fighting stance, with the caption reading:
“Elsa says she won’t freeze me.”
For some context, Pereira’s caption refers to Adesanya’s press conference before UFC 276. He called out ‘Poatan’, saying:
“This time when I put you on skates, I’m going to leave you frozen like Elsa.”
‘The Last Stylebender’ repeated this for the second time in his post-fight octagon interview, calling out Pereira after beating Jared Cannonier via decision.
The Nigerian-New Zealander seems to have gotten a response from his next opponent, with Pereira’s caption suggesting he is confident of not getting ‘frozen’ when they fight. With UFC 281 right around the corner, it seems that the mind games between the two rivals have well and truly begun.
Pereira defeated Adesanya twice in kickboxing, even knocking out the reigning UFC middleweight champion during their rematch in 2017. With quite a bit of history between the two, the stakes are high for them as they not only face each other for the first time in the UFC, but also decide who will leave New York with the middleweight title.
Israel Adesanya talks about upcoming title defense against old foe Alex Pereira
Israel Adesanya recently claimed that his upcoming title defense against Alex Pereira is “personal” to him and that this fight concerns him and his “legacy.”
As ‘The Last Stylebender’ prepares for his sixth title defense, he sat down with Ariel Helwani on the The MMA Hour to talk about his UFC 281 headliner. When asked if the fight is personal for him and not just another defense, the 33-year-old stated that the history behind the matchup understandably adds to the story:
“It’s personal. Because this is about me and my legacy. This is about rewriting history…this is about me rewriting a new path in history and just showing people what I can really do.”
The Nigerian-New Zealander further claimed that Alex Pereira has “bragging rights,” owing to ‘Poatan’ getting the better of him on two previous occasions in kickboxing.
Nevertheless, Adesanya is confident of pulling one back in their combat sports head-to-head series:
“When it’s time, I know something he doesn’t.”
Catch Adesanya’s comments in the video below:
