Alex Pereira vowed to "kill" Israel Adesanya before the final round of their middleweight title fight at UFC 281.
'The Last Stylebender' was up on the scorecards heading into the last round of his sixth middleweight title defence against former kickboxing rival Pereira at UFC 281 this past weekend, but was knocked out with just three minutes left. Footage has now shown Pereira psyching himself up before the final round as his corner team insisted he needed to finish the fight to win the title.
Pereira can be seen in his corner before the round starts telling Adesanya "pronto para matar", which translates in English to "ready to kill". The Brazilian went on to hurt Adesanya with a flurry of punches that saw referee Marc Goddard stop the fight, a decision that was protested by Adesanya as he felt he should have been given more time to recover.
Fans were quick to point out that Pereira's comment is fitting of words that Adesanya muttered to himself before the final round of his 2019 fight of the year against Kelvin Gastleum. Adesanya went five hard rounds with Gastelum and told himself "I'm prepared to die" before going on to win the interim middleweight title.
Adesanya revealed the UFC told him he will "100 per cent" get an immediate rematch against Pereira after losing his title, something the newly-crowned champion is open to as well. "It doesn't matter to me, the UFC can choose whoever they want me to fight and if they think a rematch is the fight they are going to do then I will be ready," Pereira said.
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"A lot of emotions went through my head, so many years of hard work and dedication, now here I am as the champion of the world," Pereira said. "I tried to pace myself but going into the last round my corner kept it real with me and told me I needed to knock him out. Adesanya was taking some pretty heavy hits and the referee is there to keep him safe, so I think the stoppage was absolutely correct."
Adesanya praised Pereira's gameplan and said his peroneal was damaged from the Brazilian's kicks, stating: "He got calf kicks early on and invested well. He hit my peroneal nerve. So that’s why my footwork was compromised. Even when I tripped and went backwards, I had to do the rolie polie. I just tripped over, it’s not like me. Kudos to him for investing in those calf kicks, because it cost me."
