UFC 268: Alex Pereira ‘came here to be champ’, not hunt Israel Adesanya – ‘it makes no difference to me’
- ‘Maybe by the time I get there, Israel Adesanya is no longer champion,’ says Pereira, who makes his UFC debut on Saturday
- Legendary Glory kickboxer remains only man to knock out ‘The Last Stylebender’ in combat sports
Alex Pereira knows his name will forever be linked with Israel Adesanya – but don’t think that he’s obsessed with hunting down “The Last Stylebender” in mixed martial arts.
After dabbling in the sport in his home country of Brazil five years ago, the 34-year-old kickboxing legend restarted his MMA journey last November with a thunderous first-round, left-hook knockout of Thomas Powell at LFA 95.
A couple more kickboxing bouts later, and the former two-weight Glory champion has now finally arrived in the UFC, with many already forecasting another titanic showdown with middleweight king Adesanya (21-1).
Pereira remains the only man in any combat sport to have knocked out the Nigeria-born New Zealander, though he’s not fixated on repeating the trick in the cage by any means.
“I didn’t just come here to go after Adesanya,” he told reporters at Wednesday’s UFC 268 media day, ahead of his promotional debut on Saturday night in New York against Andreas Michailidis.
“I came here to be a champion. Who knows – maybe by the time I get there, he’s no longer the champion any more? So I’m just focusing on one day at a time. I just got to the organisation, and I want to be a champion here. If I get there and it’s him, fine, if it’s not him we won’t worry.”