Israel
Adesanya has questioned Alex
Pereira’s decision to continue fighting at heavyweight.
The former two-division
Ultimate Fighting Championship titleholder is scheduled to face
Sergei
Pavlovich at UFC
335 on Dec. 12 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Pereira recently
discussed the possibility of returning to light heavyweight,
prompting a response from his former foe.
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Israel Adesanya argues Alex Pereira should have returned to
light heavyweight instead of facing Sergei Pavlovich
Pereira has said he plans to return to light heavyweight if he
loses to Pavlovich. Adesanya questioned why the Brazilian would
discuss that possibility before the fight and said he doesn’t
understand why Pereira accepted the matchup.
Adesanya believes “Poatan” should have moved back down to 205
pounds after losing to Ciryl Gane
in an interim heavyweight title bout at
UFC Freedom 250 in June.
“I already saw a clip of Pereira saying if he loses to Pavlovich,
he is going back down to 205… I don’t like that,” Adesanya said on
the “Precision” podcast. “I don’t like putting that out there. F*ck
you mean, ‘If I lose?’ Why not just go back to 205 after that last
fight with Ciryl Gane? I thought he was gonna go to 205; it made
sense. I don’t know why he is taking this fight; it doesn’t make
sense to me.”
Pereira had hoped for a rematch against Gane before accepting the
Pavlovich matchup. Gane is now set to defend the heavyweight title
against Josh Hokit
at UFC
334 in November.