Israel Adesanya responds to fan criticism accusing him of ‘over-celebrating’ Alex Pereira KO at UFC 287

Despite UFC 287 going down nearly two weeks ago now, the fallout from Israel Adesanya’s middleweight title victory over Alex Pereira is still ongoing.

Adesanya knocked Pereira out in the second round of their bout, which was a rematch of their previous fight last November that saw ‘Poatan’ win via fifth-round KO. With Pereira out cold, ‘The Last Stylebender’ then celebrated wildly, pretending to fire three arrows into his fallen foe.

He then rubbed salt into the wounds by pointing at Pereira’s son, who was at cageside, and mocking his father hitting the canvas.

Unsurprisingly, it didn’t take long for Adesanya to come under fire from some fans, who accused the New Zealand-based fighter of over-celebrating his win. Some even went as far as claiming ‘The Last Stylebender’ was unlikeable.

Now, though, Israel Adesanya has hit back at those critics. The middleweight champion took to Twitter to lash out, essentially accusing some of those criticizing him of being “bots.”

“Imagine thinking someone is 'over celebrating.' Bots...bots everywhere.”

Remarkably, it didn’t take long for the fans to continue to criticize Adesanya, this time by responding to his own tweet.

Some fans, though, jumped to his defense. They aregued that after such a huge win, ‘The Last Stylebender’ probably had the right to celebrate wildly.

While Dana White has already poured cold water on the idea of a UFC trilogy bout between Adesanya and Pereira – with ‘Poatan’ announcing a move to 205 pounds – it seems clear from this that their rivalry isn’t quite over yet.

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Has Israel Adesanya been accused of over-celebrating before?

UFC 287 wasn’t the first time Israel Adesanya was accused of celebrating in a disrespectful manner following a victory in the octagon.

Back in September 2020, ‘The Last Stylebender’ defended his middleweight title for the second time by knocking out top contender Paulo Costa.

The two fighters had a heated rivalry coming into the bout and had talked plenty of trash. However, many fans were still stunned when Adesanya celebrated by dry-humping his fallen opponent as he was rescued by the referee.

One fan accused Adesanya of being tasteless, while another labeled him “disgraceful.”

Israel Adesanya also mimed “peeing” in the octagon after his UFC debut back in 2018, a moment he explained by stating that he was the “new dog in the yard.”

“I told you guys, I’m the new dog in the yard and I just p*ssed all over the place... I know a dominant dog walks into a dog park and he’s just like...he pees all over the place to mark his territory.”

Catch Adesanya's comments below: