"He may have hurt his foot" - Alex Pereira speculates injury led to Israel Adesanya's underwhelming performance against Robert Whittaker

Alex Pereira seemingly believes that an injury to Israel Adesanya likely led to an underwhelming performance in his rematch against Robert Whittaker. Adesanya dominated Whittaker via second-round KO in their first fight at UFC 243 in 2019.

Their rematch witnessed ‘The Last Stylebender’ and Whittaker go the five-round distance in a closely-contested battle of wits that took place at UFC 271 last month. Both fighters were lauded for the technical brilliance they displayed inside the octagon, but in the end, Adesanya was declared the winner via unanimous decision.

In an interview with Laerte Viana of the Super Lutas channel, Adesanya’s longtime rival and world-renowned kickboxer-turned-MMA fighter Alex Pereira weighed in on the Adesanya-Whittaker rematch. Pereira stated:

“In the last fight, he left a little to be desired, in my opinion. But I believe he (Adesanya) was injured early in the fight. He kicks good, you know. But he didn’t manage to land many kicks. I think he may have hurt his foot there and not performed well. But he’s there, dominating. And now, I don’t see anyone to beat him. There was Whittaker, right? I think he’s the closest, you know. He’s the closest. For others, I think it’s kind of hard. I’m not saying they can’t win, but they’re on a very different level, you know.” (Translation courtesy: Brazilian MMA Legends YouTube channel)

Watch Alex Pereira’s conversation with Laerte Viana in the video below:

Brazil’s Pereira holds not one but two victories over the reigning UFC middleweight champion, albeit in the sport of kickboxing and not in MMA. ‘Poatan’ beat Adesanya via unanimous decision in 2016 and via third-round KO in their rematch the following year.

Watch Alex Pereira’s conversation with Laerte Viana, with English subtitles, in the video below:

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Glover Teixeira on how far away he thinks Alex Pereira is from a UFC middleweight title shot

Speaking to Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour late last year, UFC light heavyweight champion Glover Teixeira revealed how far he thinks his teammate, Pereira, is from a shot at UFC middleweight gold. Teixeira stated:

"I say three more fights, the most. And he wants to fight quick. He wants February already, wants to fight quick, so he’s going to fight back-to-back probably. And no injury, no nothing, man in the end of the year. I mean, by next year, by this time next year, they’ll be talking about him and Adesanya.”

Adesanya has suggested that his next UFC middleweight title defense could come against Jared Cannonier in June. Meanwhile, Pereira is set to fight Bruno Silva at UFC Fight Night on March 12.