
Getty Image / Alejandro Salazar
After Alex Pereira was knocked out by Israel Adesanya at UFC 287, it looked like the rivalry between the two might get put on hold for a little while.
Despite the fact that the score remained unsettled in their MMA careers, with each man having claimed a finish over the other, Pereira appeared to be heading to the light heavyweight division.
It appears that plan has changed this week.
The two fighters have taken turns taking shots at each other over Twitter over the past few days.
* KO’d in Kick Boxing then helped into stretcher
* defeated in a decision
* TKO’d in UFCThat’s more of a quality than 1 KO in UFC. pic.twitter.com/ZdhCnTiVpo
— Alex "Poatan" Pereira (@AlexPereiraUFC) May 2, 2023
It’s Quality over quantity over here.
3-1, you can keep that. Whatever helps you SLEEP at night…☃️🧝🏻♀️⛸️🥶 https://t.co/lfINTt6Seu— Israel Adesanya (@stylebender) May 1, 2023
Today, Pereira tweeted that it seems like Adesanya is pushing for a trilogy fight and Pereira is interested in fighting him again.
Seems like @stylebender is promoting a third fight. I like this idea. Let’s go @ufc @danawhite
— Alex "Poatan" Pereira (@AlexPereiraUFC) May 5, 2023
Between the trash talk and the results between these fighters across two sports, there is still plenty of unfinished business with this matchup.
There is also no fight at middleweight that fans want to see more than a trilogy between these men.
The next contender in the UFC’s rankings for the division is Rob Whittaker and he has already lost to Adesanya twice.
Izzy has also beaten the next name on the list, Marvin Vettori, twice.
There isn’t a fighter in the UFC middleweight rankings that Adesanya doesn’t already hold a win over until you get to the 6th ranked fighter. That fighter is Dricus Du Plessis, who is still a fight away from contention and is scheduled to fight Whittaker in July.
There are very few matchups in the UFC that can offer the kind of impressive technical striking battle that a 3rd fight between Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira can provide.
I don’t think fans would be too upset if they had to see these two meet for a 5th time in their combat spots careers.