Israel Adesanya discusses approach to watching his teammates before his fights

Israel Adesanya defended the UFC middleweight championship for the fifth time against Jared Cannonier at UFC 276. Although 'Izzy' won the fight without taking any significant damage, the night could have gone even better for 'The Last Stylebender'.

Adesanya's teammate Brad Riddell fought in the prelims and suffered a disappointing submission loss to Jalin Turner in under a minute. The middleweight champion was backstage, where he watched his teammate lose while starting preparing for the main event.

During an interview on his YouTube channel, Adesanya had this to say about watching his teammates lose before he fights:

"You don't hold on to it, even with [Alexander] Volk as well. He won, but I was still focused on my task. I can't relish in his win too much, so same thing with Brad. I couldn't get too attached to his loss. I've said this in the past. Those are my people. Those are my brothers. But in the moment, Brad lost, it's like ok, we're gonna use it as fuel."

City Kickboxing has always been a close team that supports one another. The New Zealand team could end up with a third champion (joining Alexander Volkanovski and Adesanya) when Kai Kara-France takes on Brandon Moreno for the interim flyweight championship at UFC 277. Adesanya plans to be in attendance to support his teammate.

Watch Israel Adesanya discuss how he deals with watching teammates lose before fighting below:

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Israel Adesanya says he wants to fight Alex Pereira next

At UFC 276, Alex Pereira knocked out Sean Strickland in the first round to secure the next middleweight title shot. Pereira and Adesanya have history—the Brazilian beat the UFC middleweight champion twice in kickboxing before transitioning to MMA.

During the same interview, Adesanya was asked about wanting to fight Pereira next and responded by saying:

"Yes. When do I want it? We've got a date."

Pereira could be the last hope to dethrone Adesanya. The middleweight champion has taken out all of the other contenders, some of whom he's beaten twice. If the Brazilian can't get the job done, 'The Last Stylebender' may have to give the light heavyweight division another try due to a lack of contenders at middleweight.