Top UFC middleweight contender Alex Pereira doesn't believe that reigning middleweight champion Israel Adesanya wants to face him again.
Pereira spoke with journalist Guilherme Cruz on his podcast Trocação Franca and explained why he believes Adesanya is mentally shaken ahead of their main event clash this weekend at UFC 281 in New York City, New York.
“If he really wanted this, he would have done that as soon as I signed with the UFC,” Pereira said (h/t MMA Fighting). “He’s being forced to fight, he’s the champion. It’s obvious that he cares about the belt. He knows I’m not like the other guys he fought, otherwise the results would have been different in both times we fought. He knows I’m different, and I’m proving that. I’m showing that in my three UFC fights. I’m being honest here. He doesn’t want this fight. Nobody wants. His team doesn’t want it. People close to him don’t want it because they know the risk. Is he good? Is he the champion? He’s there because he did what he did. Everybody knows my potential and sees my evolution. Right after I got in the UFC he said he would like to fight me maybe after four fights but ‘calm down’. He wanted [to fight me], but only after I did four fights. Why? He had in his mind I could lose to someone and he would say, ‘Is that the guy you want me to fight?’ I never believed that, but some people did. Others realize now he was bluffing. That’s not what he wants. Right after it was announced that my next fight would be for the belt against him, he and his whole team said it was a bit unfair that I was fighting for the belt because I just got here, that Adesanya did so many fights and I should do the same. Man, I’m just hearing that and taking it as something positive for me. That shows me he pretended he wanted [to fight me] and when I got here, his whole team was against it. That shows all of them, he and his team are mentally shook.”
#OnThisDay one year ago, Alex Pereira made his UFC debut with THIS knockout victory! --
— UFC (@ufc) November 7, 2022
He fights for the middleweight title next Saturday at #UFC281! pic.twitter.com/zUJlqeR2IJ
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