The guy who knocked out Israel Adesanya says he can do it again – but in UFC

Even if you’re not a kickboxing fan, you may have heard the name Alex Pereira.

If you have, it’s not likely because he’s the current reigning GLORY middleweight and interim light heavyweight champion, though that would be reason enough. No, in MMA circles, Pereira is best known as the man who knocked out Israel Adesanya.

“For the sport of MMA, Adesanya is one of the best strikers in the sport, but for kickboxing, he is like many others – a guy that’s good, but over a long time didn’t evolve,” Pereira told MMA Junkie through an interpreter. “He’s just one of many.

“I’m not criticizing Adesanya. I know that when you go to MMA, it’s normal that your striking, due to the wholeness of the game, it downgrades a little bit. I’m sure when I go to MMA, my striking is also going to go down a little bit, so maybe that’s what happened to Adesanya, too.”

The current UFC middleweight champion, Adesanya had a long and storied career in kickboxing before making the transition to MMA. The run included a pair of bouts against Pereira, who took home a decision win in 2016 before scoring a one-punch knockout in their 2017 rematch. Adesanya turned his full attention to MMA shortly after and made his UFC debut within a year.

The key word in terms of Pereira’s future in MMA? “When.”

Notice he didn’t say “if.”

The 32-year-old Brazilian said he’s happy with his current GLORY deal but also continues to prepare for a potential move to MMA, as well.

“I train all the disciplines every day,” Pereira said. “You never know about the future. I’m not the boss. I’m the employee. GLORY, I don’t know what they want. Maybe they’re going to come tomorrow and say, ‘We don’t need you anymore.’ I’m ready for anywhere, anytime, any fighting style – that includes MMA, too.

“GLORY is doing a great job right now. I’m really happy with the organization and with the contract I have, which runs through 2021. But also, in this contract, I’m allowed to fight two MMA fights per year, even being under the GLORY banner, so the doors are not closed for the future. You never know what’s going to happen tomorrow. It’s just got to make sense.”

GLORY CEO Marshall Zelaznik believes Pereira’s confidence is well-deserved. A longtime UFC exec, Zelaznik now helms the kickboxing promotion and believes Pereira is a special commodity.

“Alex has a very credible claim to being the most dangerous – and most cerebral – striker in all of combat sports,” Zelaznik said. “He makes the fifth defense of his middleweight title this Saturday at our massive event in the Netherlands, and making it to a fifth defense is hard enough. But he’s also coming into the fight as GLORY’s first ever champ-champ, having knocked out No. 1-ranked Donegi Abena to win the interim light heavyweight belt.

“Alex is a next-level talent; there is no question of that. When it comes to striking, there’s no one in the world he doesn’t believe he can defeat.”

Pereira (31-6 kickboxing) takes on Turkey’s Ertugrul Bayrak (18-6 kickboxing) at Saturday’s GLORY 74 event, which streams live on UFC Fight Pass from the 30,000-seat GelreDome in Arnhem, Netherlands, and leads into “GLORY Collision 2: Rico vs. Badr,” a massive rematch between two kickboxing legends.

Fitting nicely in the day’s combat sports schedule between UFC on ESPN+ 23 from South Korea and Bellator 236 in Hawaii, Pereira hopes MMA fans will take the time to check out GLORY, if they haven’t done so before.

“We all know that there are MMA fans and kickboxing fans, but nobody likes to just watch grinding,” Pereira said. “Everybody definitely enjoys seeing knockouts. With kickboxing, you already know the knockout is going to happen, and by the way I’m fighting, I’m looking for the knockout every second of the fight. There’s no better reason to watch than just to see the bodies hit the floor.”

Pereira certainly has options. His name is quickly building steam in kickboxing circles, but with each win that the undefeated Adesanya notches, there are sure to be calls to bring out the man that beat him before.

Pereira said he’ll be waiting.

“The only place in this world that Adesanya is better than me is in speaking English,” Pereira said.