Former two-division UFC champion Daniel Cormier weighed in on Israel Adesanya winning back the middleweight bet by knocking to Alex Pereira at UFC 287. Cormier had a great look at the action from the commentator table.
“The king is back on top,” said Cormier on his YouTube channel. “Israel Adesanya knocks out Alex Pereira to once again become the middleweight champion of the world. It’s unprecedented. We’ve never had this before. Izzy is now the first two-time UFC middleweight champion, and he did it in resounding fashion.”
“The fight didn’t start great for him. Pereira was having a lot of success with this outside leg kicks again,” continued. Cormier. “He seemed to have hurt Adesanya early in the fight and was doing really well, but ultimately it was a mistake by Pereira that ultimately cost him.
“He hurt Adesanya with a leg kick. Adesanya’s leg buckles. Fades to the side of the octagon. Pereira starts to rush and force. Adesanya lands a beautiful counter right hand over the top and hurts Alex. Then a followup right hand not only knocks him out. It literally shut his lights out completely. It was exactly what ‘The Last Stylebender’ said he was going to do.”
Adesanya was on a mission
Cormier interacted with Adesanya a few times during fight week and it was a different Adesanya. He was there for one thing only.
“He was different all week,” said Cormier. “He wasn’t joking. He wasn’t playing. He was very short with his answers. He was all the way locked in the entire time. There was no fun walkout. There was no dancing. It was only Israel Adesanya coming to complete a job.”
“He did exactly what he said he was going to do,” continued Cormier. “He said, ‘this will not take long.’ Prophetic. This guy did exactly what he said he was going to do.”
Alex Pereira releases statement after UFC 287 loss to Israel Adesanya
Daniel Cormier weighs in on Israel Adesanya knocking out Alex Pereira at UFC 287
