Israel Adesanya criticized for forced reaction to KO win over Alex Pereira at UFC 303

While the knockout was one of the best fights of the year, Israel Adesanya didn’t seem too thrilled with what Pereira did to Prochazka at UFC 303.

Israel Adesanya calls Alex Pereira a ‘special fighter’

Although Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira have fought each other twice in kickboxing and twice in MMA and are rivals, ‘The Last Stylebender’ had nothing but praise for the Brazilian.

During a performance at Demetrious Johnson’s Powerful Cast In April, Adesanya praised Pereira and their rivalry, calling him a special fighter.

“Honestly, he’s a special fighter,” Adesanya told Demetrious Johnson Mighty Cast (via MMAFighting). “He is a special person. What he has done in this sport, in fighting and for his life, I will always respect. I am grateful for those moments because it taught me so much about myself and where I can go. The same applies to the fight with Kelvin Gastelum, it let me know that I can do more. That time I was ready to die, but this time I just knew, ‘There’s no f****** way, this guy, me swear to God, I will die… the fourth time’s the charm.”

“That’s when I knew, ‘Israel, there are levels. You can go more. You can go more. So stay tuned.’ It won’t be another seven years before I get (Sean) Strickland. Stay tuned, just watch,” Adesanya added.

Adesanya got the last laugh against Pereira when he knocked out the Brazilian to regain the middleweight title at UFC 287.