Israel Adesanya wants his former rival Alex Pereira to keep winning until he\u2019s ready to retire.<\/p>\n
Adesanya and Pereira had a well documented rivalry in combat sports. After a pair of kickboxing matches, \u201cPoatan\u201d stopped Adesanya to capture the UFC Middleweight Championship. The win put Pereira at 3-0 against Adesanya, who responded by knocking Pereira out to regain the 185-pound gold.<\/p>\n
Going into 2026, neither man plans on fighting the other again. In fact, both Adesanya and Pereira have had friendly exchanges in recent times<\/a>. During a speaking session at Bangtao Muay Thai & MMA<\/a>, Adesanya wished Pereira luck for the rest of his MMA career (h\/t MMAFighting<\/a>).<\/p>\n \u201cFor me, it was never really about him, it was always about me,\u201d Adesanya said. \u201cI knew, technically, I\u2019m the only one to hurt this man multiple times. I knew I could always touch him.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m so proud of what he\u2019s doing now \u2014 two-time light heavyweight champ now. He\u2019s back on top now, about to fight [Jon] Jones at the White House. I hope he never loses [again].\u201d<\/p>\n Adesanya then reflected on finally being able to defeat Pereira and doing so in spectacular fashion to close out their feud.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope he retires undefeated [moving forward] because I always knew it\u2019s not about other people, it\u2019s about me. Because after he beat me at Madison Square Garden, people were like, \u2018Oh, he\u2019ll never want to fight him again.\u2018 But I was like, \u2018Yo, Dana, run that shit back. I need that.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n